## Facts

- A Portland General Electric Company (PGE) employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requested 12 weeks of parental leave after the birth of his child.
- The employee sought to use accrued paid leave to cover the period, including vacation time and multiple categories of accrued paid sick leave.
- PGE allowed use of vacation time but denied use of the requested sick leave, citing CBA restrictions on when sick leave could be used.
- The Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) concluded that PGE’s denial was an unlawful employment practice under Oregon’s parental leave statute, ORS 659.360.
- The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed BOLI’s order, and PGE petitioned for review in the Oregon Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether ORS 659.360(3) entitles an employee taking parental leave to use accrued paid sick leave during that leave even when the employee does not satisfy sick-leave eligibility conditions set by a CBA.
2. Whether the “unless otherwise provided” clause in ORS 659.360(3) permits a CBA to limit the employee’s statutory entitlement to use accrued leave, or instead only limits an employer’s authority to require use of accrued leave.
3. How ORS 659.360(3) (use of accrued leave) interacts with ORS 659.360(6) (no general requirement that parental leave be paid).

## Decision

- The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals and BOLI’s order.
- The Court held that ORS 659.360(3) allows an employee to use any accrued paid sick leave as part of parental leave, even if the employee has not met the CBA’s usual eligibility conditions for sick leave.
- The Court interpreted the CBA-related proviso in ORS 659.360(3) as limiting only the employer’s ability to require use of accrued leave, not limiting the employee’s statutory right to use accrued leave.
- The Court reconciled ORS 659.360(3) with ORS 659.360(6) by holding that parental leave need not be paid, but an employee may apply accrued paid leave to receive pay during some or all of the parental leave period.
- Applying the standard of review for agency statutory interpretation under ORS 183.482(8)(a), the Court concluded BOLI’s interpretation matched the statute’s meaning and upheld the order.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute provides that an employee “shall be entitled to utilize any accrued” sick leave during parental leave, the entitlement extends to all accrued sick leave, not only leave that would be usable under employer or CBA eligibility conditions absent parental leave.
- A statutory clause allowing an employer to require use of accrued leave “unless otherwise provided” by agreement, CBA, or policy limits the employer’s compulsion authority; it does not negate an employee’s baseline statutory entitlement to use accrued leave.
- A provision stating that parental leave is not required to be paid does not prevent an employee from using accrued paid leave to obtain pay during parental leave.
- Oregon statutory interpretation proceeds in a hierarchy: (1) text and context; (2) legislative history if ambiguity remains; (3) general maxims of construction if ambiguity persists after the first two steps.

## Conclusion

The Oregon Supreme Court held that Oregon’s parental leave statute gives employees a statutory right to use any accrued sick leave during parental leave regardless of CBA eligibility limits, and it affirmed BOLI’s order finding PGE’s denial unlawful while also setting out a hierarchical approach to statutory interpretation centered on text and context first.


Portland Gen. Elec. Co. v. Bureau of Labor & Indus., 317 Or. 606, 859 P.2d 1143 (Or. 1993)