Fair Employment Practices | The Ohio Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race, color, religion, gender, military status, national origin, handicap, age, and ancestry by employers with four or more employees.
Additionally, the law forbids employers from taking adverse action against anybody who reports or opposes an unlawful discriminatory practice or who testifies, helps, or otherwise participates in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing. |
Equal Pay | An employer in Ohio is not allowed to make wage-related decisions based on considerations of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, or ancestry. |
Whistleblower Protections | In Ohio, an employee is not subject to retaliation for reporting a coworker's or an employer's violation of a local, state, or federal law, ordinance, or regulation that the employee reasonably believes constitutes a criminal offense that poses a threat to the public's health or safety, is a felony, or involves improper solicitation of funds. |
Recruiting and Hiring | An employer is permitted by Ohio law to conduct a criminal history check. Employers typically aren't allowed to inquire about sealed or expunged arrests or convictions from job applicants. |
Minimum Wage | Employers must pay nonexempt workers a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour if they have yearly gross receipts of $372,000 or more. |
Overtime | According to Ohio law, companies must adhere to the federal Fair Labour Standards Act's exemptions and pay employees overtime at a rate of 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for hours worked more than 40 in a workweek. |
Child Labor | According to Ohio's child labor regulations, minors are not allowed to work in dangerous or harmful jobs to their well-being. 14 and 15-year-old children are not allowed to work in any different vocations. Additionally, if a minor works longer than five hours straight, they must be given a 30-minute break. |
Pay Frequency | Ohio law mandates that workers receive at least bimonthly pay. |
Wage Deductions | Under specific conditions, such as those related to federal, state, or local taxes, under a court order, following a written agreement to provide the employee with specific benefits, and with the employee's written consent, an employer may take money from an employee's pay. |
Health Care Continuation | The right to elect continuation coverage for up to 12 months is available to eligible employees and their covered dependents who lose group health insurance owing to the employee's involuntary termination (other than for gross misconduct). |
Leaves of Absence | Ohio has several regulations governing mandated vacation time and employee leaves of absence. These regulations cover family military leave, leave for emergency responders, leave for voting and election officials, jury duty leave, leave for witnesses, leave for crime victims, and leave for the armed forces. |
Smoke-Free Workplace | The Smoke-Free Workplace Act mandates companies to post "No Smoking" signs at all entrances and outlaws smoking in any workplace. |
Weapons in the Workplace | It is legal for an employer to prohibit using weapons and guns at work. However, an employer cannot forbid a worker from keeping a firearm in the glove box, trunk, or any other enclosed space of a locked, personal vehicle. |
Safe Driving Practices | In Ohio, driving while using a handheld electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or receive text-based communications is illegal. |
Final Pay | Final earnings must be paid by the following regular payday to employees who quit their jobs, whether freely or involuntarily.
A company policy requiring the value of accumulated vacation time to be paid to a terminated employee must be upheld by the employer.
If no letters of testamentary have been filed against the estate, the employer is obligated to pay any wages owed to a deceased employee at any time following the employee's passing to their family members. |