Chapter 4173 | Retail Establishment Restrooms

Section 4173.01 | Retail establishment restrooms definitions.

• Effective: September 12, 2008
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 150 - 127th General Assembly

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the premises of a retail establishment.

(B) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a toilet facility.

(C) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to the general public for the sale of goods or services. "Retail establishment" does not include a filling station or service station, with a structure of eight hundred square feet or less, that has an employee toilet facility located within that structure.

Section 4173.02 | Use by certain customers of employee restrooms.

• Effective: April 6, 2023
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 281 - 134th General Assembly

(A) Any retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees is encouraged to permit a customer to use that facility during normal business hours if the toilet facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility has an eligible medical condition or utilizes an ostomy device.

(2) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area where providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment.

(3) A public restroom or employee restroom normally available to the public is not immediately accessible to the customer.

(B) This section does not require a retail establishment to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility.

(C) No restroom facility, by reason of being made available to a customer pursuant to this section, shall be considered a public facility for the purpose of laws or regulations that generally govern facilities available to the public. That restroom facility shall be governed by the laws and regulations that otherwise would govern the facility if it were not made available to a customer pursuant to this section.

Last updated March 10, 2023 at 12:33 PM

Section 4173.03 | Immunity regarding customer use of employee restrooms.

• Effective: September 12, 2008
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 150 - 127th General Assembly

No retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment shall be liable in any civil action for an injury or death of a customer resulting from any act or omission in allowing a customer to use an employee toilet facility pursuant to section 4173.02 of the Revised Code if the act or omission is not willful or grossly negligent.