Terms Used In Oregon Statutes > Chapter 657 > Definitions

• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Any other state: includes any state and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• 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
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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
• Calendar quarter: means the period of three consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31, or the approximate equivalent thereof, as the Director of the Employment Department may, by rule, prescribe. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• City: includes any incorporated village or town. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• employee: means any person, including aliens and minors, employed for remuneration or under any contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied, by an employer subject to this chapter in an employment subject to this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 657.015
• 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

• Employment office: means a free public employment office or branch thereof, operated by this state or maintained as a part of a state-controlled system of public employment offices. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• for-hire carrier: has the meaning given that term in ORS § 825. See Oregon Statutes 657.047
• Hospital: has the meaning given that term in ORS § 442. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• Institution of higher education: means an educational institution that:

  (a) Admits as regular students only individuals having a certificate of graduation from a high school, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate;

  (b) Is legally authorized in this state to provide a program of education beyond high school;

  (c) Provides an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's or higher degree, or provides a program that is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, a program of post-graduate or post-doctoral studies, or a program of training to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation; and

  (d) Is a public or other nonprofit institution. See Oregon Statutes 657.010

• Internal Revenue Code: means the federal Internal Revenue Code, as amended and in effect on December 31, 2022. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• Leasehold: has the meaning given that term in ORS § 656. See Oregon Statutes 657.046
• members of the same family: means persons who are members of a family as parents, stepparents, grandparents, spouses, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers, sisters, children, stepchildren, adopted children or grandchildren. See Oregon Statutes 657.044
• Nonprofit employing unit: means an organization, or group of organizations, described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• Officiating services: means overseeing the play of a sporting event or contest, judging whether the rules are being followed and penalizing participants for infringing the rules. See Oregon Statutes 657.088
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Passenger motor vehicle that is operated as a taxicab: means a vehicle that:

  (A) Has a passenger seating capacity of at least three persons and not more than seven persons;

  (B) On a route that begins or ends in Oregon, is used primarily to transport persons;

  (C)(i) Carries passengers for hire when the destination and route traveled may be controlled by a passenger and the fare is calculated on the basis of any combination of an initial fee, distance traveled or waiting time; or

  (ii) Is in use under a contract to provide specific service to a third party to transport designated passengers to locations selected by the third party; and

  (D) Is not used more than secondarily or incidentally for errand services or to transport property, instead of or in addition to transporting passengers. See Oregon Statutes 657.046

• Passenger motor vehicle that is operated for nonemergency medical transportation: means a vehicle that:

  (A) Has a passenger seating capacity of at least three persons and not more than seven persons;

  (B) On a route that begins or ends in Oregon, is used primarily to transport persons;

  (C) Provides medical transportation services under contract with or on behalf of a mass transit or transportation district; and

  (D) Is not used more than secondarily or incidentally for errand services or to transport property, instead of or in addition to transporting passengers. See Oregon Statutes 657.046

• payroll: means all wages paid to employees in any employment subject to this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 657.095
• Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• political subdivision: means any county, city, district organized for public purposes, or any other political subdivision or public corporation, including any entity organized pursuant to ORS § 190. See Oregon Statutes 657.097
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Sporting event or contest: means any sporting competition in which the participants are not professional athletes or contestants or are not remunerated for their participation. See Oregon Statutes 657.088
• state government: means the executive department, the judicial department and the legislative department. See Oregon Statutes 174.111
• Taxes: means the money payments to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund required, or voluntary payments permitted, by this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes territories, outlying possessions and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Valid claim: means any claim for benefits made in accordance with ORS § 657. See Oregon Statutes 657.010
• 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