(1) "Compensation" includes wages, salary, bonuses, benefits, fringe benefits and equity-based compensation.

(2) "Employee" means any individual who, otherwise than as a copartner of the employer, as an independent contractor or as a participant in a work training program administered under the state or federal assistance laws, renders personal services wholly or partly in this state to an employer who pays or agrees to pay such individual at a fixed rate. However, when services are rendered only partly in this state, an individual is not an employee unless the contract of employment of the employee has been entered into, or payments thereunder are ordinarily made or to be made, within this state.

(3)(a) "Employer" means any person employing one or more employees, including the State of Oregon or any political subdivision thereof or any county, city, district, authority, public corporation or entity and any of their instrumentalities organized and existing under law or charter.

(b) "Employer" does not include the federal government.

(4) "Equal-pay analysis" means an evaluation process to assess and correct wage disparities among employees who perform work of comparable character.

(5) "Protected class" means a group of persons distinguished by race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability or age.

(6) "Rate" with reference to wages means:

(a) The basis of compensation for services by an employee for an employer; and

(b) Compensation based on the time spent in the performance of the services, on the number of operations accomplished or on the quantity produced or handled.

(7) "Sexual orientation" has the meaning given that term in ORS 174.100.

(8) "System" means a consistent and verifiable method in use at the time that a violation is alleged under ORS 652.220.

(9) "Unpaid wages" means the difference between the wages actually paid to an employee and the wages required under ORS 652.220 to be paid to the employee.

(10) "Veteran status" means an individual is a veteran as defined in ORS 408.225.

(11) "Wages" means all compensation for performance of service by an employee for an employer, whether paid by the employer or another person, or paid in cash or any medium other than cash.

(12) "Working conditions" includes work environment, hours, time of day, physical surroundings and potential hazards encountered by an employee.

(13) "Work of comparable character" means work that requires substantially similar knowledge, skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions in the performance of work, regardless of job description or job title. [1955 c.193 §1; 1985 c.100 §1; 1987 c.158 §124; 1993 c.739 §25; 2005 c.22 §457; 2017 c.197 §1; 2019 c.617 §1]