80°FHeat index — not air temperature — triggering water, shade, trainingOAR 437-002-0156
90°FHeat index adding mandatory rest schedule + acclimatizationpermanent since 2022
3Regional minimum wage rates, adjusted every July 1Portland metro highest
2 yrStatute of limitations on the new GC wage liabilitySB 426, eff. Jan 2026
Oregon in short
Oregon’s heat rule triggers on heat index, not air temperature — a distinction that makes thermometer-based compliance unreliable. Under OAR 437-002-0156, permanent since 2022, an 80°F heat index requires water, shade, monitoring, and training; a 90°F heat index adds a mandatory written rest-break schedule and acclimatization for new and returning workers. The rule explicitly covers construction. Oregon also maintains permanent wildfire-smoke rules keyed to air quality index, adopted after the 2020 fire season and 2021 heat dome.
Overtime is weekly-only past 40 hours for construction; Oregon’s daily-overtime-after-10-hours rule applies to manufacturing establishments specifically, not construction. Meal periods run 30 minutes for shifts of six hours or more, with timing requirements by shift length, and an unrelieved meal must be paid in full. The significant recent change is SB 426, effective January 1, 2026: owners and prime contractors are now jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages owed by a subcontractor at any tier to non-union employees. Oregon had no such exposure before this.
Summary as of July 2026 — rules move; verify current requirements with the Oregon labor department and qualified counsel. The California column is there for scale, not because it applies to you: it's the regime CDO's engine was built to, which is why Oregon's rules run inside it with room to spare.
What Oregon employers actually have to get right
Oregon’s outdoor rules came out of hard experience — the 2020 wildfire season and the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome that killed workers in the field — and they are correspondingly strict. OAR 437-002-0156 has been permanent since 2022 and explicitly covers construction. Critically, it is triggered by heat index rather than raw air temperature: at an 80°F heat index, employers must provide water, shade, monitoring, and training; at a 90°F heat index, a written rest-break schedule becomes mandatory along with acclimatization protocols for new and returning workers.
That heat-index distinction is not academic. On a humid day, an air temperature in the mid-70s can produce a heat index above 80°F — meaning a crew whose foreman is watching a thermometer can be out of compliance without any indication that a threshold was crossed. Compliance requires computing the index from temperature and humidity, which is exactly the sort of thing software should do rather than a person on a roof.
Oregon also maintains permanent wildfire smoke rules keyed to air quality index thresholds, requiring exposure controls and respiratory protection as AQI climbs. For a state where smoke season now overlaps roofing season, this is a second live constraint on outdoor work.
On hours, Oregon is more moderate than its heat rules suggest. Overtime for construction is weekly-only past 40 hours. The daily-overtime-after-10-hours rule that appears in Oregon summaries applies to manufacturing establishments, not construction, and misapplying it is a common source of confusion. Meal periods under OAR 839-020-0050 run 30 minutes for shifts of six hours or more with the employee fully relieved of duty; for shifts of seven hours or less the meal must start after the end of the second hour and finish before the start of the fifth. An unrelieved meal period must be paid in full. Rest breaks are 10 paid minutes per 4-hour segment, near the midpoint.
The most consequential recent change has nothing to do with weather. SB 426, effective January 1, 2026, makes owners and prime contractors strictly, jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages and benefits owed by a subcontractor at any tier to non-union employees. There is a 21-day cure notice and a two-year statute of limitations. Exemptions cover an owner’s principal residence, developments of five units or fewer, and public-agency owners. Oregon contractors had no exposure of this kind before 2026 — which means standard subcontract indemnity language written before then was not drafted with it in mind.
Wages are regional: Portland metro, standard, and non-urban rates, all CPI-indexed and adjusted every July 1 rather than January 1. Contractors working across the metro boundary run more than one floor.
The one most Oregon contractors get wrong
The heat rule triggers on heat index, not air temperature. A crew tracking a thermometer will miss the threshold on humid days — 76°F at high humidity can exceed an 80°F heat index — and there is no signal on the thermometer that anything happened. The second, newer trap: since January 1, 2026, Oregon owners and prime contractors are jointly and severally liable for a sub’s unpaid wages at any tier under SB 426, with a two-year lookback. This exposure did not exist in Oregon before 2026, so subcontract agreements drafted earlier were not written to allocate it — and many GCs still assume paying the sub in full ends the matter.
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