What we'll cover
- What is a Paid Leave Equivalent plan?
- What’s the difference between fully insured and employer-administered?
- How Paid Leave Equivalent plans are calculated and paid in OnPay
- Paid Leave Oregon’s requirements for equivalent plans
- Approval process
- Enabling a Paid Leave Equivalent plan in your OnPay account
What is a Paid Leave Equivalent plan?
A Paid Leave Equivalent (PLE) plan provides employees with paid leave benefits that are equal to or greater than those provided through the state’s Paid Leave Oregon program. Equivalent plans can be either fully-insured or employer-administered.
Employers who provide a state-approved equivalent plan, through which employees can apply for and receive paid leave benefits, are not required to collect and pay contributions to Paid Leave Oregon.
What’s the difference between fully insured and employer-administered?
- A fully insured plan is purchased through an insurance company that’s been approved by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), Division of Financial Regulation
- An employer-administered plan is one where the employer assumes all financial risk associated with the benefits and administration of the equivalent plan, even if administered by a third-party insurer
How Paid Leave Equivalent plans are calculated and paid in OnPay
Employers who've been approved to provide a Paid Leave Equivalent (PLE) plan to their employees will still have some reporting requirements, and will need to document any employee withholdings or contributions. The terms of your PLE plan will dictate the actions OnPay takes when calculating, withholding, and allocating funds.
State-funded PLO plan
Before getting into how fully insured plans are handled differently in OnPay, let's review how a state funded Paid Leave Oregon plan typically works.
For companies that pay into the state plan, OnPay takes the following actions:
- Calculate employer contribution (unless exempt)
- Calculate and withhold employee contributions from wages (unless fully covered by the employer)
- File and remit combined employer and employee tax contributions to the state
Fully insured PLO plan
If approved, employers may choose to offer this benefit through an insurance provider, instead of the state. Employers are responsible for making all payments to the insurance provider for this plan. Each time you run payroll, OnPay will set aside these funds in your bank account. We do this by reducing the tax amount drafted from your account by the amount needed to make these insurance payments, leaving your PLO funds available in your account for you to use to pay your provider.
For companies that pay into a fully insured plan, OnPay takes the following actions:
- Calculate and report employer contributions to the fully insured plan
- Calculate, withhold, and report employee contributions to the fully insured plan
- Reduce payroll draft from company bank account by the combined total contribution, leaving the funds available for you to use to pay the insurance provider
Paid Leave Oregon’s requirements for equivalent plans
Coverage
- Must cover all Oregon employees (including full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary) employed with the business for at least 30 days
- Must immediately cover newly hired employees who are already covered by their previous employer's equivalent plan
- Must provide benefit amounts that are equal to or greater than benefit amounts under Paid Leave Oregon
- Must provide job protection rights to employees if they've been employed for 90 consecutive days
Leave accrual and usage
- Must provide 12 weeks paid family, medical, and safe leave within the eligible employee’s benefit year
- Must provide an additional two weeks for pregnancy and childbirth-related events
- Must allow employees to take intermittent and consecutive leave in daily or weekly increments
Employee contributions
- Must include a detailed summary of how their benefit amount is calculated
- Must provide employees with a cost breakdown of their contributions
- Must not require employees to contribute more than 60% of the total contribution rate (typically 1%), which must be the same or lower than the annually adjusted state rate (refer to Paid Leave Oregon’s Contributions Calculator→)
Conditions
- Must provide employees with information (including posting a workplace notice poster) detailing how to file a claim
- Must provide an appeal process to review benefit decisions when an employee requests it
- Must make a reasonable effort to issue a decision and the first benefit payment within two weeks of receiving an employee's claim or their first day of leave
- Must not put any conditions or restrictions on the use of family, medical, or safe leave beyond those allowed in Paid Leave Oregon rules
Approval process
Employers may apply for approval of their equivalent plan through their Frances Online account, or by mail. To apply by mail, download and print the application found on the Paid Leave Oregon website→. This form can also be requested by calling 833-854-0166.
There is a non-refundable approval fee of $250. Annual reapproval of the equivalent plan is required for the first three years, and includes a non-refundable $250 fee.
For information about what forms we file in Oregon, and how to register your business in the state, see our Oregon payroll tax and registration guide.
Enabling a Paid Leave Equivalent plan in your OnPay account
If you're an employer who's been approved to offer a Paid Leave Equivalent Plan, contact OnPay Support to have this option enabled for your account.
More information about Paid Leave Equivalent plans in Oregon
Paid Leave Oregon provides the following resources for employers looking to offer an equivalent plan: