Parents with new children — by birth, adoption or foster placement — account for the bulk of early applicants for benefits under Oregon’s new program for paid family leave.

Though the Employment Department received applications in all categories in the first couple of days after it opened its online portal, officials said applicants for bonding — which applies to a child’s first year with a parent — exceeded those for personal or family leave, or those who seek leave based on domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or harassment.

Karen Madden Humelbaugh, director of the paid leave program, said applications are in line with projections.

“Parents can apply anytime during their child’s first year,” she told reporters at an online briefing last week. “We do estimate that we will average about 12,000 claims per month after this initial surge. An initial surge in applications shows that many Oregonians were eager for this program.”

Payments are scheduled to start the week of Sept. 3. Most benefits will be paid via direct deposit into bank accounts or prepaid debit cards, similar to other benefit programs.

The Employment Department began collecting contributions on Jan. 1 from employees and employers. The split is 60% from employees and 40% from employers, up to a combined total 1% of wages.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oregon is the 11th state with some form of paid leave program, joining neighbors California and Washington, Colorado and seven Northeast states. Oregon has had unpaid leave since 1991, but lawmakers approved a paid leave program in 2019. They acted in 2021 to delay startup dates by a few months.

Employees are eligible for up to 12 weeks of benefits in a year, if they have earned at least $1,000 in each of four of five quarters preceding the benefit year.

Contributions and payments are being handled by Frances Online, the Employment Department’s new computer system, named in honor of Frances Perkins, labor secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45) and the first woman appointed to a presidential Cabinet. Perkins was state industrial commissioner in New York when Roosevelt was governor from 1929 to 1933.

Although the Labor Department awarded $89 million to Oregon for an upgrade of its computer system, which dates back to 1993 and relies on even older technology, the Employment Department finally settled on a vendor in fall 2021. The Legislature added money for startup costs of paid family leave, though contributions will repay what is essentially a loan from the tax-supported general fund.

David Gerstenfeld had directed benefit programs for the department from 2011 until he was named to lead the paid leave program in 2019. But he was thrust into the agency directorship on an acting basis in May 2020, after then-Gov. Kate Brown fired his predecessor. Gov. Tina Kotek removed the “acting” designation from Gerstenfeld’s title earlier this year.

“So far this has been a successful rollout,” Gerstenfeld said. “But a lot of work remains to be done as we review and process the applications for the first-ever claims for paid leave in our new system.”

The new system is scheduled in March to start paying regular unemployment benefits.

Humelbaugh said about 6,000 people created accounts for paid leave during the first two days the new portal was open, and about half applied for benefits.

The state’s webpage had drawn between 2,000 and 4,000 visits prior to the opening of the portal, she said, but that number jumped to 12,000 when the portal opened Aug. 14. On the first two days, there were 775 and 400 calls; waiting times averaged 9 seconds.