State Regulations for Oregon

Date Revised: 8/29/2022

Governing Body:

Oregon Health Authority - Community Liason for Local Health Departments

Local Health Department Directory

License Required for Day Camps :
Yes
License Required for Resident Camps:
Yes
Criminal Background Checks Required:
No
Criminal Background Checks Information:

Oregon State Police
Clearinghouse Unit

3772 Portland Rd NE
Salem, Oregon 97301
503-378-3070
FAX 503-378-2121

A fee is charged for each applicant, however, some organizations may be eligible to have this service provided at no charge.

State Allows FBI Checks:
Yes
Driving Record Checks:

Download a request form from the Oregon DMV Web Site.

$1.50 - $12.50

State Sex Offender Registry:

Oregon Sex Offender Registry

Minimum Wage:

$12 per hour statewide

$13.25 per hour Portland area

$11.5 per hour non-urban area

July 1, 2024

$14.20 per hour statewide

$1.25 per hour more than standard minimum wage for Portland metro area

Adjusted based on consumer price index in Standard Counties

Minimum Wage Coverage and Exemptions:

Covers all employees unless specifically exempt.

Exemptions: seasonal employees at a camp with a gross annual income of less than $500,000; persons working for a nonprofit conference ground or center operated for educational, charitable, or religious purposes; employees who maintain, manage, or assist in the management of a multiunit temporary or permanent lodging facility while living on the premises; employees living at a job site to be available for emergency and other duties (but on-call work is exempt); administrators, executives, and professionals; employees of the U.S. government; employees of the primary or secondary school where they are enrolled

Subminimum Wage:

Labor Commissioner may set subminimum rates for handicapped workers, student-learners (at least 75% of minimum wage, special certificate required, and hours of work training plus hours of school instruction cannot exceed 8 per day or 40 per week).

Overtime Pay Requirements:

1½ times the regular rate (excluding commissions, overrides, bonuses, tips, and other benefits) after 40-hour week. Minors under age 18: 1½ times the regular rate after 8-hour day or 40-hour week.

Overtime Pay Exemptions:

Those employees exempt from the state minimum wage, those employed in the care of quarters or livestock, conducting messhalls, superintendence and direction of work

Meal/Rest Period Requirements:

Meal period: 30 minutes for minors under age 16 provided no later than 5 hours and 1 minute after start of shift; all other employees–30 minutes during work periods of 6-8 hours; if work period is 7 hours or less meal period must be given between 2nd and 5th hour worked; if work period is more than 7 hours meal period must be given between 3rd and 6th hour worked. If the nature of the work prevents the employee from being relieved from all duty to take a meal break, then for work periods of 6-8 hours the employee must be given a period in which to eat while continuing to work or remain on call. Meal periods of less than 30 minutes, but not less than 20 minutes, are permitted if it is established industry practice or custom.

Rest period: 10 minutes for every 4 hours worked (in addition to the meal period) taken near the middle of the 4-hour work period (excludes workers age 18 or older who work less than 5 hours in a 16-hour period and work alone in a retail or service job and may leave the post to use the restroom). Female employees who need to express breast milk for a child 18 months old or younger may use rest periods that are otherwise provided; up to 60 minutes in rest periods per 8-hour shift to express milk may be provided. If law or contract requires rest periods to be paid periods, then rest periods used for expressing milk also must be paid. If an employee takes unpaid rest periods, the employer may allow the employee to work before or after her normal shift to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid rest periods. If the employee does not work to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid rest periods, the employer is not required to pay the employee for that time. These provisions apply only to employers of 25 or more employees within the state, for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the year in which the rest periods are to be taken or in the year immediately preceding the year in which the rest periods are to be taken.

Student Exemption from Unemployment Tax:
Yes
Student Exemption Information:

Oregon Revised Statutes 657.030 specifically relates to unemployment insurance for students and includes a portion regarding camps.

657.030 Employment generally; educational, hospital, nursing, student service exclusions. (1) As used in this chapter, except as provided in ORS 657.035, 657.040 and 657.043 to 657.094, “employment” means service for an employer, including service in interstate commerce, within or outside the United States, performed for remuneration or under any contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied.  (2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, “employment” includes service that is:  (a) Subject to the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act; or (b) Required to be covered under this chapter as a condition for employers to receive a full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. (3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) of this section, “employment” does not include:  (a) Service performed in the employ of a school, college or university, if the service is performed by a student who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes at the school, college or university, or by the spouse of the student, if the spouse is advised at the time the spouse commences to perform the service, that the employment of the spouse is provided under a program to provide financial assistance to the student by the school,  college, or university, and the employment is not covered by any program of unemployment insurance.  (b) Service performed in the employ of a hospital, if the service is performed by a patient of the hospital.  (c) Service performed as a student nurse in the employ of a hospital or a nurses’ training school by an individual who is enrolled in a nurses’ training school chartered or approved pursuant to the laws of this state.  (d) Service performed by an individual who is enrolled at a nonprofit or public educational institution that normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are carried on as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit at the institution, that combines academic instruction with work experience, if the service is an integral part of the program, and the program has been approved by the Director of the Employment Department, and the institution has so certified to the employer, except that this paragraph does not apply to service performed in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers.  (e) Service performed by a full-time student in the employ of an organized camp described in section 3306(c)(20) of the Internal Revenue Code: (A) If the camp: (i) Did not operate for more than seven months in the calendar year and did not operate more than seven months in the preceding calendar year; or (ii) Had average gross receipts for any six months in the preceding calendar year that were not more than 33-1/3 percent of its average gross receipts for the other six months in the preceding calendar year; and  (B) If the full-time student performed services in the employ of the camp for less than 13 calendar weeks in the calendar year.  (4) As used in subsection (3)(e) of this section, an individual shall be treated as a full-time student for any period:  (a) During which the individual is enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution; or (b) That is between academic years or terms if: (A) The individual was enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution for the immediately preceding academic year or term; and (B) There is a reasonable assurance that the individual will be enrolled for the immediately succeeding academic year or term after the period described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. [Amended by 1959 c.405 §2; 1971 c.463 §5; 1975 c.257 §2; 1981 c.77 §2; 1987 c.263 §1; 2011 c.106 §3]"