Ohio House Bill 203

Sens. DiDonato, Latell, Brady, Watts, Carnes, Hagan, Harris, Mumper, Nein, Oelslager, Prentiss, Wachtmann, Fingerhut, Herington, McLin, Espy, White, Armbruster, Drake, Gardner, Blessing

Effective date: ** The Legislative Service Commission had not received formal notification of the effective date at the time this analysis was prepared.

Prohibits an employer from terminating an employee who also is a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer provider of emergency medical services when that employee misses or is late to work because of an emergency to which the employee was dispatched.
 

Ohio is an employment-at-will state with respect to private sector employment. Consequently, in the absence of a written employment agreement or a collective bargaining agreement, an oral employment agreement between an employer and employee is terminable at-will by either party for any reason that is not contrary to law. Moreover, there is a strong presumption in favor of an at-will contract unless the terms of the contract or other circumstances clearly manifest the parties' intent to bind each other.

Various exceptions to the basic employment-at-will doctrine exist in statute or that have been created by judicial decision and are founded upon implied contract and public policy. Statutory limitations in both state and federal law on the employment-at-will doctrine also exist. An employee who is discharged in violation of a statute, public policy, or the terms of an express or implied contract is considered by many courts to have been "wrongfully discharged" and can be allowed to bring an action for breach of contract or in tort.

The act prohibits an employer from terminating an employee who is a member of a volunteer fire department, who is employed by a political subdivision as a volunteer firefighter, or who is a volunteer provider of emergency medical services because that employee, when acting as a volunteer firefighter or provider of emergency medical services, is absent from or late to the employee's employment in order to respond to an emergency prior to the time the employee is to report to work. If an employer purposefully violates this provision, the employee may bring a civil action for reinstatement to the employee's former position of employment, payment of back wages, and full reinstatement of fringe benefits and seniority rights. A terminated employee must commence an action within one year after the date of the violation in the court of common pleas in the county where the place of employment is located.

The act specifies that an employer may charge any amount of time that an employee who is a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency medical services loses from employment because of his or her response to an emergency against the employee's regular pay. Additionally, at the employer's request, an employee who loses time from employment to respond to an emergency must provide the employer with a statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department or the medical director or chief administrator of the cooperating physician advisory board of the medical services organization, as applicable, stating that the employee responded to an emergency and the time of that response.

An employee who is a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency medical services is required by the act do to all of the following:

(1) Notify the employee's employer of the employee's status as a volunteer by submitting to the employer a written notice signed by the chief of the volunteer fire department or the medical director or chief administrator of the cooperating physician advisory board of the emergency medical organization with which the employee serves, within 30 days after either certification as a volunteer or the date the State Fire Marshal gives notice to the volunteer's department or organization, as described below (see "State Fire Marshal notice");

(2) Make every effort to notify the employee's employer that the employee may report late to or be absent from work due to the employee's dispatch to an emergency;

(3) If the notification as described in section two above cannot be made either due to the extreme circumstances of the emergency or the inability to contact the employer, submit to the employee's employer a written statement from the appropriate chief, medical director, or chief administrator that explains why prior notice was not given;

(4) Notify that employee's employer when the employee's status as a volunteer changes, including when the employee's status as a volunteer is terminated.

The State Fire Marshal is required by the act to notify every volunteer fire department and every volunteer emergency medical organization of the act's provisions within 30 days after the act's effective date.

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