The Oregon Legislature has made three significant changes to its family and medical leave law, which will take effect on January 1, 2008. Here's what to expect for the new year:

• Grandparents and grandchildren are covered family members. Employees can take time off to care for a grandparent or grandchild who has a serious health condition.
• Paid sick leave can be used for any family or medical leave. Previously, employees could use paid sick leave only if the reason for taking leave was covered by the employer's sick leave policy. Now, sick leave can be used for any reason covered by Oregon's family and medical leave law.
• Workers' comp leave doesn't count as medical leave. An employee who has a workers' comp injury often also has a serious health condition, as defined by federal and Oregon law. However, employers can no longer count time spent on workers' comp leave against the employee's 12 weeks of state medical leave. If the employee turns down an appropriate light-duty position and continues to take time off, however, that additional time counts against the employee's state leave entitlement.

Oregon's law was already more generous to employees than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in a number of ways, and these recent changes simply continue that trend. Because of these differences between federal and state law, Oregon employers have to carefully track employee leave to make sure that they provide all of the time off that's legally required -- and to make sure that they count all applicable leave against the appropriate entitlement, whether it's protected by federal law, state law, or both.