What Oregon law adds on top of federal law for nurses and EMS, and who to call.
Every rule here was read on the statute, regulation or agency page it cites. Checked November 10, 2026.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and your facts decide how they apply. Before you act, confirm with the agency listed here or with an employment lawyer or your union representative.
Who to call in Oregon
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI)Unpaid wages and state labor complaints. Start a complaint · 971-245-3844
BOLI takes wage, final-pay and meal and rest break complaints. Hospital staffing complaints (ratios, staffing plans) go to the Oregon Health Authority instead.
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour DivisionUnpaid wages and overtime, PUMP Act, FMLA. Contact · 1-866-487-9243
OSHAPrivate-employer safety complaints, and retaliation for raising safety (30 days under the OSH Act). Public employees: see Unions and public employers. Contact
An Oregon hospital can't make you work past your agreed shift, more than 48 hours in its work week, more than 12 hours in 24, or during the 10 hours after your 12th hour in a 24-hour period. Before mandating anyone, the hospital has to make every reasonable effort to find replacement staff.
Who it covers: Hospital nursing staff: RNs, LPNs, CNAs and other nursing staff the Oregon Health Authority defines by rule.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
One extra hour if a vacancy for the next shift only becomes known at the end of your shift, or if leaving would put an assigned patient at risk.
The limits don't apply in either of two situations: a national or state emergency, or circumstances that require the hospital to put its facility disaster plan in place. They also don't apply in other emergencies the Oregon Health Authority defines by rule. (ORS 441.770(8))
Required meetings, training and on-premises on-call time count toward the limits; on-call time away from the facility doesn't.
"a hospital may not require a nursing staff member to work: (A) Beyond the agreed-upon and prearranged shift, regardless of the length of the shift; (B) More than 48 hours in any hospital-defined work week; (C) More than 12 hours in a 24-hour period"
Oregon writes RN-to-patient ratios into law. Examples: ICU 1:2, intermediate care 1:3, med-surg, telemetry, oncology and pediatrics 1:4, operating room 1:1, PACU 1:2, and the ED may average no worse than 1:4 over 12 hours with no more than 5 patients per RN at once. CNAs max out at 7 patients on days and evenings and 11 on nights. The med-surg limit dropped from 1:5 to 1:4 on July 1, 2026. One shift over ratio is not by itself a violation: a unit can go over its plan up to six times in a rolling 30 days, and the unit manager has to report each one to the staffing committee within 10 days. If you're over ratio, document it and take it to your staffing committee, or file a staffing complaint with the Oregon Health Authority within 60 days of the shift. OHA cannot investigate a late complaint, and each over-ratio shift counts separately. Don't walk off: Oregon law bars a hospital RN from leaving an assignment during an agreed shift without supervisor authorization if that puts a patient at risk.
Who it covers: Direct care RNs and CNAs in Oregon hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
A unit can go over its staffing plan, ratios included, within a 12-hour period up to six times in a rolling 30 days without violating the plan. The unit manager must notify the staffing committee within 10 days of each one, and each further deviation in that 30 days is a separate violation. (ORS 441.765(6))
With a majority vote of the staffing committee, a unit can run an approved care model in which other clinical staff make up as much as half of the RNs the ratio calls for. The committee has to re-approve it every two years. (ORS 441.765(4))
Patients who are ready for discharge but face a barrier to discharge, as a licensed independent practitioner notes in each chart, fall outside the fixed ratios. That covers inpatient units, and patients in adjacent rooms or the same room, including in the ED. (ORS 441.766(1)(d)-(e))
ICU and critical units in circumstances set by the staffing committee, critical ED patients until stable, swing beds, outpatient units and psychiatric units also fall outside the fixed ratios and are covered by committee-built plans instead. (ORS 441.766(1)(a)-(c), (f)-(g))
The ratio for each patient follows the licensed independent practitioner's classification in the chart, whatever unit the patient is on. (ORS 441.765(3))
A charge nurse who takes patients counts toward the ratio while doing so (on units of 10 or fewer beds, or larger units if the committee approves). (ORS 441.765(8))
Rural type A and type B hospitals can vary from the ratios if their nurse staffing committee votes to approve it; the variance lasts two years. (ORS 441.763(6))
A declared national or state emergency that requires the facility disaster plan and crisis standards of care, sudden unforeseen bad weather, or an infectious disease epidemic among hospital staff lets the hospital set the staffing plan aside. An emergency deviation can't run more than 90 days without the committee's approval. (ORS 441.769)
An OHA staffing complaint must be filed within 60 days of the shift it is about; OHA cannot investigate or act on a late complaint. Each over-ratio shift is its own violation, so the clock runs from each shift. (ORS 441.791(6))
"In a medical-surgical unit, a direct care registered nurse is assigned to no more than four patients."
Every Oregon hospital has a nurse staffing committee with equal numbers of nurse managers and direct care staff, and your union picks the direct care RN members if you have one. The committee writes and reviews the staffing plan at least once a year, and you can report a pattern of mandatory overtime for nonemergency care to it.
Who it covers: Direct care nursing staff in Oregon hospitals.
"For each hospital there shall be established a hospital nurse staffing committee."
Fired, or let go by mutual agreement: all earned wages are due by the end of the next business day.
Who it covers: Employees of Oregon employers.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
Doesn't apply where a union contract sets its own final-pay timing. (ORS 652.140(5))
"When an employer discharges an employee or when employment is terminated by mutual agreement, all wages earned and unpaid at the time of the discharge or termination become due and payable not later than the end of the first business day after the discharge or termination."
Quit with at least 48 hours' notice (weekends and holidays excluded): your wages are due immediately. Quit without that notice: due within five business days or on the next regular payday, whichever comes first.
Who it covers: Employees without a contract for a definite period.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
If you quit without 48 hours' notice and normally turn in time records, the employer has to pay its estimate within five days, and the rest is due within five days after you turn in your time records. (ORS 652.140(2)(c))
Doesn't apply where a union contract sets its own final-pay timing. (ORS 652.140(5))
"all wages earned and unpaid at the time of quitting become due and payable immediately if the employee has given to the employer not less than 48 hours' notice"
For a work period of six to eight hours you get a meal period of at least 30 continuous minutes, fully relieved of duty. If you aren't relieved for the full 30 minutes, the whole meal period must be paid. Longer shifts get more meal periods under the rule's Appendix A.
Who it covers: Employees covered by Oregon BOLI's meal and rest period rule.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
The employer can skip a meal period only if it proves undue hardship, an industry custom of paid 20-29 minute meals, or rare unforeseeable circumstances.
A union contract can change these meal and rest rules if it specifically sets its own rules for meal and rest periods. (OAR 839-020-0050(7))
For nurses giving acute care in hospitals, the state meal and rest rules don't apply if your union contract sets meal and rest period rules (the OHA and BOLI hospital complaint route still exists). (ORS 653.261(3))
Doesn't apply to state, county, city or other public employees if another law or a union contract sets their meal and rest periods. (ORS 653.261(2))
"for each work period of not less than six or more than eight hours, a meal period of not less than 30 continuous minutes during which the employee is relieved of all duties"
You get a paid rest period of at least 10 continuous minutes, fully relieved of duty, for each four hours or major part of four hours worked. Rest breaks are separate from meal periods and can't be tacked onto them.
Who it covers: Employees covered by Oregon BOLI's meal and rest period rule.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
An adult working alone in a retail or service business, for under five hours in any 16, who can leave the station for the restroom, doesn't have to get a rest period. (OAR 839-020-0050(6)(b))
A union contract can change these meal and rest rules if it specifically sets its own rules for meal and rest periods. (OAR 839-020-0050(7))
For nurses giving acute care in hospitals, the state meal and rest rules don't apply if your union contract sets meal and rest period rules (the OHA and BOLI hospital complaint route still exists). (ORS 653.261(3))
Doesn't apply to state, county, city or other public employees if another law or a union contract sets their meal and rest periods. (ORS 653.261(2))
"every employer shall provide to each employee, for each segment of four hours or major part thereof worked in a work period, a rest period of not less than ten continuous minutes during which the employee is relieved of all duties, without deduction from the employee's pay."
In an acute inpatient care facility, on a shift of 10 hours or more your meal period must start after your third hour and be finished before the end of your ninth hour. On a 7-to-10-hour shift it falls between the end of hour three and the start of hour six.
Who it covers: Employees of acute inpatient care facilities in Oregon.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
A union contract can change these meal and rest rules if it specifically sets its own rules for meal and rest periods. (OAR 839-020-0050(7))
For nurses giving acute care in hospitals, the state meal and rest rules don't apply if your union contract sets meal and rest period rules (the OHA and BOLI hospital complaint route still exists). (ORS 653.261(3))
Doesn't apply to state, county, city or other public employees if another law or a union contract sets their meal and rest periods. (ORS 653.261(2))
"If the work period is more than seven hours, but less than ten hours, the meal period must be taken after the conclusion of the third hour worked and completed prior to the commencement of the sixth hour worked. If the work period is ten hours or more, the meal period must be taken after the conclusion of the third hour worked and completed prior to the conclusion of the ninth hour worked."
Hospital RNs in direct care, and hospital professional, technical and service staff, can file a complaint about missed meal or rest periods either with the Oregon Health Authority, within 60 days of the missed break, or directly with BOLI.
Who it covers: Hospital staff as defined in ORS 441.760, unless covered by a union contract with a money remedy for missed breaks.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
Staff covered by a union contract that includes a money remedy for missed meal and rest periods are not covered by this complaint route. (ORS 653.258(1)(a)(B))
A complaint filed through the Oregon Health Authority more than 60 days after the missed break must be dismissed without investigation. (ORS 653.258(5))
The complaint is treated as withdrawn if you or your union file a grievance or a lawsuit over the same missed break. (ORS 653.258(4))
If BOLI finds a violation on a complaint routed through OHA, the remedy is a $200 penalty paid to you as liquidated damages, and it rules out any other penalty or remedy for that violation. (ORS 653.258(6))
"by electing to file a complaint in one of the following ways: (a) With the Oregon Health Authority in accordance with ORS 441.790; or (b) With the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries"