Tarkowsky Employment Law Bulletin: Fall 2021

Ohio Employment Law Uniformity Act: House Bill 352, which took effect on April 15, 2021, made numerous changes to Ohio’s discrimination laws, including the following:

Statute of Limitations:

The statute of limitations to file an employment discrimination claim has been reduced from six (6) years to two (2) years. The two-year statute of limitations is still significantly longer than the Title VII federal counterpart, which requires actions to be instituted within 300 days.

Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:

Prior to filing suit, an employee is now required to file a charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. This state requirement now mirrors the federal requirement to file a charge with the EEOC. Additionally, the length of time to file a charge with the OCRC has been extended from 180 days to two (2) years.

Damage Caps in Employment Discrimination Cases:

  • R.C. 2315.21(A) now includes damage caps for civil actions “based on an unlawful discriminatory practice relating to employment.” The damage cap establishes the following:
    • Bifurcation of compensatory and punitive damages at Trial,
    • Statutory caps on compensatory damages and noneconomic injury,
    • Statutory caps on punitive damages, and
    • Defines the legal standard for awarding punitive damages.

Limitation on Supervisor Liability:

  • The new law provides that a supervisor is immune from personal liability provided that the supervisor is not the employer and did not act outside the course and scope of his/her employment.

Affirmative Defense to Hostile Work Environment:

  • R.C. 4112.054 provides that an employer may raise an affirmative defense to an employee’s alleged hostile work environment claim created by a supervisor if the employer provides the following:
    • 1.) The employer exercised reasonable care to prevent or promptly correct any sexually harassing behavior, and
    • 2.) the employee alleging the hostile work environment unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise.

Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law Changes: House Bill 75, which took effect September 28, 2021, made the following changes to workers’ compensation claims:

Statute of Limitations for Occupational Disease Claims:

  • The statute of limitations to file a workers’ compensation claim in an occupational diseases claim has been reduced from two (2) years to one (1) year after the date of disability due to the disease began.

Timing for Filing Permanent Partial Disability Award:

  • Where an employer is paying wage continuation in lieu of temporary total disability benefits, an employee must wait 26 weeks from the last date of payment prior to applying for a permanent partial disability award.

Permanent Total Disability Application:

  • When an employee has previously been denied for permanent total disability (PTD), an employee is required to present evidence of “new and changed circumstances” prior to the Commission considering a subsequent application. This change should prevent the filing of a new PTD application based simply on the passage of time.