ORS 657.092¹
Employment
  • • nonprofit organization employees and contestants excluded

(1) “Employment” does not include service performed by an individual as a director, designer, performer, musician, technical crew member, house or business person, contestant, beauty queen or member of a court for or on behalf of a nonprofit organization in connection with a symphony, opera, play, pageant, festival, rodeo or similar event operated by such organization when the remuneration for such service consists solely of a gratuity, prize, scholarship or reimbursement of expenses.

(2) As used in this section:

(a) “Contestant” means a person competing in a competition in a pageant, festival, rodeo or similar event.

(b) “Gratuity” means a voluntary return for a service and does not include commissions or other amounts paid pursuant to an agreement reached at the time the individual agrees to perform a service for the organization.

(c) “Nonprofit organization” means an organization or group of organizations described in sections 501(c)(3) to 501(c)(10) of the Internal Revenue Code which is exempt from income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(d) “Prize” means a reward received for winning a competition in a pageant, festival, rodeo or similar event.

(e) “Reimbursement for expenses” means a payment made in lieu of salary to compensate an individual for transportation costs to the location of the service and return, and ordinary living expenses while in the vicinity of the event in which the individual is participating.

(f) “Scholarship” means a grant provided for the purpose of paying part of the tuition or other costs of attending an educational institution or institution of higher education and payable to the institution of the individual’s choice. [1981 c.636 §2; 1983 c.508 §15; 2007 c.71 §209]

Chapter 657

Notes of Decisions

An individual who performs services for remunera­tion is an employee, and per­son or organiza­tion for whom services are performed is an employer under terms of Employ­ment Division Law even if remunera­tion is paid indirectly rather than directly unless employer shows that some statutory exclusion applies. Lectro Lift, Inc. v. Morgan, 14 Or App 316, 513 P2d 526 (1973)

Mere act of incorporating as professional corpora­tion does not, by itself, create employer-employee rela­tionship for purposes of this chapter. Peterson v. Employ­ment Division, 82 Or App 371, 728 P2d 95 (1986)

Determina­tion of whether claimant is qualified for benefits is made by reference to ORS 657.150 (Amount of benefits) and 657.155 (Benefit eligibility conditions), which require determina­tion of amount of work that claimant performed in “employ­ment” as defined in ORS chapter 657, which, in turn means that exclusions from “employ­ment” set out in ORS 657.040 (Employment) through 657.094 (Employment) must be considered. May Trucking Co. v. Employ­ment Dept., 251 Or App 555, 284 P3d 553 (2012)

Atty. Gen. Opinions

Determining employer of musicians’ group, (1972) Vol 35, p 1306

1 Legislative Counsel Committee, CHAPTER 657—Unemployment Insurance, https://­www.­oregonlegislature.­gov/­bills_laws/­ors/­ors657.­html (2019) (last ac­cessed May 16, 2020).
 
2 Legislative Counsel Committee, Annotations to the Oregon Revised Stat­utes, Cumulative Supplement - 2019, Chapter 657, https://­www.­oregonlegislature.­gov/­bills_laws/­ors/­ano657.­html (2019) (last ac­cessed May 16, 2020).
 
3 OregonLaws.org assembles these lists by analyzing references between Sections. Each listed item refers back to the current Section in its own text. The result reveals relationships in the code that may not have otherwise been apparent. Currency Information