Thrifty Payless, Inc. v. Cole

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Workers Compensation
• Date Filed: 12-14-2011
• Case #: A146135
• Judge(s)/Court Below: Duncan, J. for the Court; Haselton, P.J.; & Armstrong, J.

"Regular work" is defined for the purposes of workers' compensation as any work that occurs on a steady, recurring basis, and affords a person their accustomed means. This includes overtime, if it occurred as defined by "regular work."

Thrifty Payless, Inc. (Thrifty) petitioned the Court of Appeals to overturn the ruling of the workers compensation board defining “regular work” in ORS 656.214(2). The Board ruled that "regular work" included both regular and overtime hours. Thrifty argued that regular work only included hours that an employee was required to work, but not overtime work because it was optional and should therefore not be consider part of an employee's regular work. The Court analyzed the definition of regular work by looking at the plain and natural meaning of the terms. The Court "regular work" as any work that occurs on a steady, recurring basis, and affords a person their accustomed means. Thus, because the employee worked overtime on a steady, uniform, basis it constituted “regular work.” Affirmed

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