Coolidge Wall is pleased to be presenting at the annual Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Talent 360 Forum: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 Options for both in-person and virtual participation! In Person Location: Marriott University of Dayton 8:30 am to1:30 pm Coolidge’s Marc Fleischauer, chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Department, will be talking to the area’s HR professionals and others about trending legal topics including: Ohio Discrimination Tort Reform for Employers Reduced Statute of Limitations Elimination of Supervisor Liability Mandatory Administrative Process Coordination with Federal Law What’s …
Ohio Passes Employment Law Uniformity Act Shortening Statutes of Limitation
On January 12, 2021, Governor DeWine signed HB 352 into law, which brings Ohio’s anti-discrimination statute in line with existing federal law. Among other things, the law does the following key things which benefit employers: Reduces the statute of limitations for most discrimination claims to two years instead of six; Requires claimants to exhaust their administrative remedies and undergo scrutiny in most cases from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission instead of simply proceeding with a lawsuit; Protects managers and supervisors from suit unless they retaliate for opposing a discriminatory practice, aid a discriminatory practice, or obstruct a person from complying …
House Bill 81 Brings Changes to Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law
Governor DeWine approved House Bill 81, which makes several significant changes to Ohio Workers’ Compensation law. The changes made by the legislation will go into effect on September 14, 2020. Now is the time to familiarize yourself with how these changes will affect your business. The new statutory language will be set forth in Ohio Revised Code §4123.56(F) and will state, “If an employee is not working or has suffered a wage loss as the direct result of reasons unrelated to the allowed injury or occupational disease, the employee is not eligible to receive compensation under this section.” Applying the …
Election Day and the Workplace: Issues for Ohio Employers
Robert Frost once advised, “Thinking isn’t to agree or disagree. That’s voting.” One question that HR professionals are thinking of every election season is, “Do we need to provide employees time to vote?” In Ohio, the answer is likely yes. Ohio Revised Code Section 3599.06 provides that no employer shall discharge or threaten to discharge an elector for taking “a reasonable amount of time to vote on election day.” Ohio employers are prohibited from interfering with, discriminating, or retaliating against an employee who seeks to vote or serve as an election official on Election Day. Does this require employees leaving …
Supreme Court Holds Mandated Public Sector Union Agency Fees Unconstitutional
On June 27, 2018, the United States Supreme Court declared that fees charged to dissenting employees pursuant to a union agency shop arrangement violates the First Amendment. In a 5-4 vote in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, No. 16-1466, the court found in favor of Mark Janus, an Illinois public employee who refused to join the union yet had so-called agency or “fair share” fees taken from his paycheck every month, adding up to more than $500 each year. In finding for Janus, the Court overturned a 1977 decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. There, a group of Detroit …
Supreme Court Upholds Mandatory Employment Arbitration Clauses, Even Those Prohibiting Class Action Proceedings
In a major victory for employers, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that individualized arbitration clauses in employment contracts are enforceable. In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the Supreme Court determined that the Federal Arbitration Act is compatible with, rather than opposed to, other federal statutes such as the National Labor Relations Act. The most recent Justice, Neil Gorsuch, wrote the 5-4 majority opinion. The decision provides that employers can insist on individualized arbitration clauses in their contracts with employees and preclude employees from bringing class or collective actions in court. The employees in the case had …
Changes to Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law
On June 30, 2017, Gov. John Kasich signed H.B. 27 into law, not only funding the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC), but also enacting a number of substantive changes. The new law became effective September 29, 2017. Below are some of the important substantive changes that are now law: Statute of limitations for filing a claim: For claims involving injuries or deaths occurring on or after September 29, 2017, the claimant must file the claim one year from the date of injury or the date of death. Prior to this change, claimants had two years to file their claim. …
Federal Judge Strikes Down White-Collar Exemption Rule
A federal judge in Texas has held that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority by substantially raising the minimum salary threshold required for employees under the “white collar” exemptions. In May 2016, the DOL issued regulations that would have more than doubled the minimum annual salary threshold for the Fair Labor Standard Act’s “white collar” executive, administrative and professional exemptions, from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually). However, on August 31, 2017, U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant struck down that regulation concluding it would “essentially make an employee’s duties, functions, or tasks irrelevant if …
What Will Happen to the Salary-Exempt Regulations Under the New Administration?
We have continued to follow the litigation and political maneuvering surrounding last year’s proposed wage and hour regulations. Those regulations, which would have increased the threshold requirement for most salary exempt positions from $455 to $913 per week, were temporarily halted nationwide last November by a federal judge in Texas. Since that time, the case has been appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, while political wrangling over the regulations has continued. Recently, President Trump’s initial pick for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his nomination and was replaced by Alexander Acosta, the dean of Florida International Law School. …
“Blacklisting” Reporting Requirements for Federal Contractors
On August 24, 2016, the federal government published the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s Final Rule and the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Final Guidance implementing President Obama’s July 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673. The Final Rule and Guidance imposes numerous and substantial burdens on federal contractors. First, federal contractors, both prime contractors and subcontractors, bidding on new contracts with an estimated value of more than $500,000, must disclose any labor law decision rendered against them in the past three years, regardless of when the underlying conduct occurred. This reporting requirement has often been referred to as the …