Oregon Statutes 657.150 – Amount of benefits; length of employment and wages necessary to qualify for benefits; rules
(1) An individual shall be paid benefits for weeks during the benefit year in an amount that is to be determined by taking into account the individual’s work in subject employment in the base year as provided in this section.
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 657.150
- Average monthly employment: means the total number of persons employed in each month for 12 consecutive months, as reported by employers subject to the tax under this chapter, divided by 12. See Oregon Statutes 657.458
- Benefit year: means a period of 52 consecutive weeks commencing with the first week with respect to which an individual files an initial valid claim for benefits, and thereafter the 52 consecutive weeks period beginning with the first week with respect to which the individual next files an initial valid claim after the termination of the individual's last preceding benefit year except that the benefit year shall be 53 weeks if the filing of an initial valid claim would result in overlapping any quarter of the base year of a previously filed initial valid claim. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
- Benefits: means the money allowances payable to unemployed persons under this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
- employer: means any employing unit which employs one or more individuals in an employment subject to this chapter in each of 18 separate weeks during any calendar year, or in which the employing unit's total payroll during any calendar quarter amounts to $1,000 or more. See Oregon Statutes 657.025
- 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. See Oregon Statutes 657.030
- United States: includes territories, outlying possessions and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- wages: means all remuneration for employment, including the cash value, as determined by the Director of the Employment Department under the regulations of the director, of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash. See Oregon Statutes 657.105
- Week: means any period of seven consecutive calendar days ending at midnight, as the director may prescribe by rule. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
(2)(a) To qualify for benefits an individual must have:
(A) Worked in subject employment in the base year with total base year wages of $1,000 or more and have total base year wages equal to or in excess of one and one-half times the wages in the highest quarter of the base year; and
(B) Have earned wages in subject employment equal to six times the individual’s weekly benefit amount in employment for service performed subsequent to the beginning of a preceding benefit year if benefits were paid to the individual for any week in the preceding benefit year.
(b) If the individual does not meet the requirements of paragraph (a)(A) of this subsection, the individual may qualify for benefits if the individual has worked a minimum of 500 hours in employment subject to this chapter during the base year.
(3) If the wages paid to an individual are not based upon a fixed period of time or if wages are paid at irregular intervals or in such manner as not to extend regularly over the period of employment, for the purposes of subsections (2) to (5) of this section, the individual’s wages shall be allocated in accordance with rules prescribed by the Director of the Employment Department. Such rules shall, insofar as possible, produce results the same as those that would exist if the individual had been paid wages at regular intervals. The director may adopt rules to attribute hours of work to an individual if the individual is not paid on an hourly basis or if the employer does not report the number of hours worked.
(4)(a) An eligible individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be 1.25 percent of the total wages paid in the individual’s base year. However, such amount shall not be less than the minimum, nor more than the maximum weekly benefit amount.
(b) The minimum weekly benefit amount shall be 15 percent (0.1500) of the state average weekly covered wage for the preceding calendar year, effective for any benefit year commencing on and after the week that includes July 4, 1975, and the week that includes each July 4 thereafter.
(c) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall be:
(A) Fifty-five percent (0.5500) of the state average weekly covered wage for calendar year 1979, effective for any benefit year commencing with and after the week that includes July 4, 1980, and through any benefit year commencing with the week that includes June 27, 1981.
(B) Fifty-five percent (0.5500) of the state average weekly covered wage for calendar year 1980, effective for any benefit year commencing with and after the week that includes July 4, 1981, through any benefit year commencing with the week that includes September 27, 1981.
(C) Fifty-eight percent (0.5800) of the state average weekly covered wage for calendar year 1980, effective for any benefit year commencing with and after the week that includes October 4, 1981, through any benefit year commencing with the week that includes June 27, 1982.
(D) Sixty percent (0.6000) of the state average weekly covered wage for calendar year 1981, effective for any benefit year commencing with and after the week that includes July 4, 1982, through any benefit year commencing with the week that includes June 27, 1983.
(E) Sixty-four percent (0.6400) of the state average covered weekly wage for the preceding calendar year, effective for any benefit year commencing with and after the week that includes July 4, 1983, and the week that includes each July 4 thereafter.
(d) All weekly benefit amounts, if not a multiple of $1, shall be computed to the next lower multiple of $1.
(e) For the purposes of this subsection, the state average weekly covered wage means an amount determined by the Employment Department by dividing the total wages paid by subject employers during the year by 52 times the average monthly employment reported by subject employers for the year.
(5) Benefits paid to an eligible individual in a benefit year shall not exceed 26 times the individual’s weekly benefit amount, or one-third of the base year’s wages paid, whichever is the lesser. If such amount is not a multiple of $1, it shall be computed to the next lower multiple of $1.
(6) An eligible unemployed individual who has employment in any week shall have the individual’s weekly benefit amount reduced, but not below zero, by the amount of earnings paid or payable that exceeds the greater of:
(a) Ten times the minimum hourly wage established by the laws of this state; or
(b) One-third of the individual’s weekly benefit amount.
(7) Payment that has been, is or will be paid to an individual for a holiday or vacation shall be considered as earnings in the determination of the amount of benefits payable with respect to the week in which the holiday or vacation falls in the same manner as provided in subsection (6) of this section. However, if payment for the holiday or vacation is paid more than 45 days prior to the holiday or vacation or is delayed more than 45 days following the end of the week in which the holiday or vacation falls, the provisions of this section do not apply and previously reduced benefits shall be adjusted accordingly.
(8) Payment that has been or is paid to an individual as back pay shall be considered as earnings in the determination of the amount of benefits payable with respect to the period for which the back pay has been or is paid.
(9) Payment that has been, or will be, made to an individual as a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States, including the organized militia of the State of Oregon, for the performance of inactive duty training shall not be considered as earnings in the determination of the amount of benefits payable. [1955 c.655 § 15; 1957 c.699 § 1; 1959 c.567 § 1; 1961 c.211 § 1; 1963 c.441 § 1; 1967 c.434 § 1; 1969 c.569 § 1; 1971 c.463 § 13; 1971 c.521 § 1; 1973 c.146 § 1; 1973 c.535 § 1; 1975 c.661 § 2; 1977 c.670 § 1; 1981 c.77 § 10; 1981 c.751 § 1; 1983 c.51 § 1; 1987 c.257 § 1; 1989 c.897 § 1; 1995 c.104 § 1; 1995 c.105 § 4; 1995 c.153 § 1; 2020 s.s.2 c.1 1,3; 2021 c.388 5,6]