Oregon Minimum Wage and Overtime Exemptions Laws

Executive exemption

Oregon exempts bona fide executive employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the executive employee exemption, an employee must:

• perform primary duties which include managing the enterprise in which the employee is employed or a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof (this requirement is not necessary if the employee is in sole charge of an independent establishment or physically separated branch establishment or if the employee owns at least 20% of the enterprise where they work);
• direct the work of two (2) or more other employees;
• have authority to hire or fire other employees or whose suggestions as to hiring, firing, and other advancements and promotions are given particular weight;
• customarily and regularly exercises discretionary powers;
• be paid on a salary basis.

OR Statute 653.020(3); OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0005(1)

Administrative exemption

Oregon exempts bona fide administrative executive employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, an employee must:

• perform primary duties which include either:
  • performing office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations of the employer of the employer’s customers; or
  • performing functions in the administration of a school system, or educational establishment or institution, or of a department or subdivision thereof, in work directly related to the academic instruction or training carried on therein;
• customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment;
• do one of the following:
  • regularly and directly assists a proprietor or an employee working in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity;
  • perform under only general supervision work along specialized or technical lines requiring special training, experience, or knowledge; or
  • execute under only general supervision special assignments and tasks;
• be paid on a salary basis.

OR Statute 653.020(3); OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0005(2)

Professional exemption

Oregon exempts bona fide professional executive employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the professional employee exemption, an employee must:

• perform primary duties which include either:
  • work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study, as distinguished from a general academic education and from an apprenticeship, and from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes;
  • work that is original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor (as opposed to work which can be produced by a person endowed with general manual or intellectual ability and training), and the result of which depends primarily on the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee; or
  • teaching, tutoring, instructing, or lecturing in the activity of imparting knowledge and who is employed and engaged in this activity as a teacher in the school system or educational establishment or institution by which the employee is employed;
• be paid on a salary basis.

OR Statute 653.020(3); OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0005(3)

Outside salesman exemption

Oregon exempts bona fide administrative executive employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, an employee must:

• customarily and regularly work away from the employer’s place of business;
• be employed for the purpose of:
  • making sales; or
  • obtaining orders or contracts for services or for the use of facilities for which a consideration will be paid by the client or customer; and
• spend less than 30 percent of their time in a workweek engaged in activities other than those activities described above (this does not include work that is performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee’s outside sales or solicitations, including incidental deliveries and collections).

OR Statute 653.010(7); OR Statute 653.020(6); OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0005(4)

Computer employee exemption

Oregon minimum wage laws exempts computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, or other similarly skilled workers from its overtime requirements. To qualify for the computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, or other similarly skilled workers exemption, an employee must:

• be paid at least $27.63 per hour; and
• perform primary duties that include:
  • applying systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications;
  • designing, developing, documenting, analyzing, creating, testing, or modifying computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
  • designing, documenting, testing, creating, or modifying computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
  • performing a combination of duties described above.

OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0125(2)(h)

Other minimum wage and overtime exemptions

In addition to those discussed above, Oregon also exempt the following employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements:

• some agricultural workers
• workers engaged in the range production of livestock
• individuals who perform child care services in their home or the home of the child
• domestic workers employed on a casual basis in a family home
• individuals employed by the United States Government
• students enrolled in and employed by an institution of primary or secondary education
• operators of taxicabs
• workers living at a place of employment for the purpose of being available for emergency or occasional duties
• workers paid for specified hours who are to be available for recall to duty
• managers, assistant managers and maintenance workers employed and lodged in multiunit accommodations, including mobile home parks or manufactured dwelling parks
• workers employed on a seasonal basis at educational or organized camps having an annual income of less than $500,000 and workers employed on a seasonal basis at nonprofit camps
• workers employed at a nonprofit conference ground or center operated for educational, charitable or religious purposes
• volunteer firefighters
• workers providing companionship services to elderly, infirm or disabled persons in a family home
• resident managers of licensed adult foster care homes
• inmate labor
• certain individuals volunteering as campground hosts who reside in publicly owned campgrounds
• referees of youth or adult recreational soccer matches
• certain ski patrollers, golf course caddies and marshals

OR Statute 653.020.

Overtime only exemptions

Oregon exempts employers from its overtime exemptions in the following situations. Employers would still be required to comply with any minimum wage requirements.

• by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of that specified in OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030 without paying the compensation for overtime employment prescribed therein; provided that, such employee received compensation for employment in excess of 12 hours in any workday, or for employment in excess of 56 hours in any workweek, as the case may be, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed; and, provided further that such employee is so employed as follows:
  • in pursuance of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, which provides that no employee shall be employed more than 1,040 hours during any period of 26 consecutive weeks; or
  • in pursuance of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board which provides that during a specified period of 52 consecutive weeks the employees shall be employed not more than 2,240 hours and shall be guaranteed not less than 1,840 hours (or not less than 46 weeks at the normal number of hours worked per week, but not less than 30 hours per week) and not more than 2,080 hours of employment for which the employee shall receive compensation for all hours guaranteed or worked at rates not less than those applicable under the agreement to the work performed and for all hours in excess of the guaranty which are also in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030 or 2,080 hours in such period at rates not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. (Reference: Sec. 7(b)(1) and Sec. 7(b)(2), FLSA)
• by an independently owned and controlled local enterprise (including an enterprise with more than one bulk storage establishment) engaged in the wholesale or bulk distribution of petroleum products, if:
  • the annual gross volume of sales of such enterprise is less than $1,000,000 exclusive of excise taxes; and
  • more than 75 per centum of such enterprise’s annual dollar volume of sales is made within the state in which such enterprise is located; and
  • not more than 25 per centum of the annual dollar volume of sales of such enterprise is to customers who are engaged in the bulk distribution of such products for resale; and
  • such employee receives compensation for employment in excess of forty hours in any workweek at a rate not less than one and one-half times the minimum wage rate applicable to the employee under OR Statute 653.025. (Reference: Sec. 7(b)(3), FLSA)
• by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030 if such employee is employed pursuant to a bona fide individual contract, or pursuant to an agreement made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees, if the duties of such employee necessitate irregular hours of work, and the contract or agreement specifies a regular rate of pay of not less than the minimum hourly rate provided in OR Statute 653.025 and compensation at not less than 1-1/2 times such rate for all hours worked in excess of such maximum workweek, and a weekly guarantee of pay for not more than 60 hours based on the rates so specified. (Reference: Sec. 7(f), FLSA);
• by employing any employee of a retail or service establishment for a workweek in excess of the applicable workweek specified in OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030, if the regular rate of pay of such employee is in excess of one and one-half times the minimum hourly rate applicable under OR Statute 653.025 and if more than half of the employee’s compensation for a representative period (not less than one month) represents commissions on goods or services. In determining the proportion of compensation representing commission, all earnings resulting from the application of a bona fide commission rate shall be deemed commissions on goods or services without regard to whether the computed commissions exceed the draw of guarantee. (Reference: Sec. 7(i), FLSA);
• when an employer engaged in the operation of a hospital or an establishment which is an institution primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, or the mentally ill or defective who reside on the premises enters into an agreement or understanding arrived at between the employer and employee before performance of the work, that provides for a work period of 14 consecutive days in lieu of the workweek of seven consecutive days for purposes of overtime computation and provides further that for the employee’s employment in excess of eight hours in any workday and in excess of 80 hours in such 14-day period, the employee receives compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. (Reference: Sec. 7(j), FLSA);
• by employing an employee of a not for profit amusement or recreational establishment in excess of the applicable work week specified in OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030 if the establishment does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year, or if, the establishment’s average receipts for any six months of such year were not more than 33-1/3 per centum of its average receipts for the other six months of such year. (Reference: Section 13(a)(3), FLSA);
• by employing an employee in excess of the applicable workweek specified in OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030 when the employee is employed in the catching, taking, propagating, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacean, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, or in the first processing, canning or packing such marine products at sea as an incident to, or in conjunction with, such fishing operations, including the going to and returning from work and loading and unloading when performed by any such employee. (Reference: Sec. 13(a)(5), FLSA)
• by employing an employee who is compensated at a rate of not less than the equivalent of $27.63 per hour for each hour worked and who is a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty consists of the following:
  • the application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications;
  • he design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
  • the design, documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
  • a combination of duties described in paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of this paragraph the performance of which requires the same level of skills. (Reference: Sec. 13 (a)(17), FLSA)

OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0125(2)

Oregon exempt the following employees from its overtime requirements when Section 13(b), of the Fair Labor Standards Act apply:

• any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of Section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935; or
• any employee of an employer engaged in the operation of a common carrier by rail and subject to the provisions of Part I of the Interstate Commerce Act; or
• any employee of a carrier by air subject to the provisions of Title II of the Railway Labor Act; or
• any individual employed as an outside buyer of poultry, eggs, cream, or milk, in their raw or natural state; or
• any employee employed as a seaman; or
• any employee employed as an announcer, news editor, or chief engineer by a radio or television station the major studio of which is located in a city or town of 100,000 population or less, according to the latest available decennial census figures as compiled by the Bureau of the Census, except where such city or town is part of a standard metropolitan statistical area, as defined and designated by the Bureau of the Budget, which has a total population in excess of 100,000, or is located in a city of 25,000 population or less, which is part of such an area but is at least 40 airline miles from the principal city in such area; or
• any sales person, parts person or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if the employee is employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers; or
• any sales person primarily engaged in selling trailers, boats, or aircraft if the salesperson is employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling trailers, boats or aircraft to ultimate purchasers; or
• any employee employed as a driver or driver’s helper making local deliveries, who is compensated for such employment on the basis of trip rates, or other delivery payment plan, if the Commissioner shall find that such plan has the general purpose and effect of reducing hours worked by such employees to, or below, the maximum workweek applicable to them under OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0030; or
• any employee employed in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, or operated on a sharecrop basis, and which are used exclusively for supply and storing of water for agricultural purposes; or
• any employee with respect to the employee’s employment in agriculture by a farmer, notwithstanding other employment of such employee in connection with livestock auction operations in which such farmer is engaged as an adjunct to the raising of livestock, either on the farmer’s own account or in conjunction with other farmers, if such employee is primarily employed during the employee’s workweek in agriculture by such farmer, and if such employee is paid for the operations at a wage rate not less than that prescribed by OR Statute 653.025; or
• any employee employed within the area of production (as defined by the Commissioner) by an establishment commonly recognized as a country elevator, including such an establishment which sells products and services used in the operation of a farm, if no more than five employees are employed in the establishment in such operation; or
• any employee engaged in the transportation and preparation for transportation of fruits and vegetables, whether or not performed by the farmer, from the farm to a place of first processing or first marketing within the State of Oregon, or any employee engaged in transportation, whether or not performed by the farmer, between the farm and any point within the State of Oregon of persons employed or to be employed in the harvesting of fruits or vegetables; or(n) Any employee who is employed in domestic service in a household and who resides in such household; or
• any employee employed by an establishment which is a motion picture theater; or
• any employee employed in planting or tending trees, cruising, surveying, or felling timber, or in preparing or transporting logs or other forestry products to the mill, processing plant, railroad, or other transportation terminal, if the number of employees employed by the employee’s employer in such forestry or lumbering operations does not exceed eight; or
• any employee of an amusement or recreational establishment located in a national park or national forest or on land in the National Wildlife Refuge System if such employee is an employee of a private entity engaged in providing services or facilities in a national park or national forest, or on land in the National Wildlife Refuge System, under a contract with the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, and receives compensation for employment in excess of 56 hours in any workweek at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. (Reference: Sec. 13(b), (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (16), (21), (27), (28), and (29), FLSA)
• any employee engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer or to any homeworker engaged in the making of wreaths composed principally of natural holly, pine, cedar or other evergreens (including the harvesting of the evergreens or other forest products used in making such wreaths). (Reference: Sec. 13(d), FLSA)

OR Admin. Rules 839-020-0125(3)-(4)