Chapter 5906 | Employer Responsibility To Provide Leave For Parent Or Spouse Of Members Of Uniformed Services Called To Active Duty Or Injured During Active Duty

Section 5906.01 | Definitions.

• Effective: July 2, 2010
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 48 - 128th General Assembly

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Active duty" means full-time duty in the active military service of the United States or active duty pursuant to an executive order of the president of the United States, an act of the congress of the United States, or a proclamation of the governor. "Active duty" does not include active duty for training, initial active duty for training, or the period of time for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to perform any duty unless such period is contemporaneous with an active duty period.

(B) "Benefits" means the employment benefits, other than salary or wages, that an employer regularly provides or makes available to employees, including, but not limited to, medical insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, pension plans, and retirement plans.

(C) "Employer" means a person who employs fifty or more employees and includes the state or any agency or instrumentality of the state, and any municipal corporation, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of the state.

(D) "Employee" has the same meaning as in section 4113.51 of the Revised Code.

(E) "Uniformed services" means the armed forces, the Ohio organized militia when engaged in full-time national guard duty, the commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons designated by the president of the United States in time of war or emergency.

Section 5906.02 | Employer to provide leave for employee who is spouse or parent of member of military who is called to active duty or is injured or hospitalized while serving on active duty.

• Effective: July 2, 2010
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 48 - 128th General Assembly

(A) Once per calendar year, an employer shall allow an employee to take leave up to ten days or eighty hours, whichever is less, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The employer has employed the employee for at least twelve consecutive months and for at least one thousand two hundred fifty hours in the twelve months immediately preceding commencement of the leave.

(2) The employee is the parent, spouse, or a person who has or had legal custody of a person who is a member of the uniformed services and who is called into active duty in the uniformed services for a period longer than thirty days or is injured, wounded, or hospitalized while serving on active duty in the uniformed services.

(3) The employee gives notice to the employer that the employee intends to take leave pursuant to this section at least fourteen days prior to taking the leave if the leave is being taken because of a call to active duty or at least two days prior to taking the leave if the leave is being taken because of an injury, wound, or hospitalization. If the employee receives notice from a representative of the uniformed services that the injury, wound, or hospitalization is of a critical or life-threatening nature, the employee may take the leave under this section without providing notice to the employer.

(4) The dates on which the employee takes leave pursuant to this section occur no more than two weeks prior to or one week after the deployment date of the employee's spouse, child, or ward or former ward.

(5) The employee does not have any other leave available for the employee's use except sick leave or disability leave.

(B) An employer shall continue to provide benefits to the employee during the period of time the employee is on leave pursuant to this section. The employee shall be responsible for the same proportion of the cost of the benefits as the employee regularly pays during periods of time when the employee is not on leave. The employer is not required to pay salary or wages to the employee during the period of time the employee is on leave pursuant to this section.

Upon the completion of the leave taken pursuant to this section, the employer shall restore the employee to the position the employee held prior to taking that leave or a position with equivalent seniority, benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.

(C) An employer may require an employee requesting to use the leave established under this section to provide certification from the appropriate military authority to verify that the employee satisfies the criteria described in divisions (A)(2), (3), and (4) of this section.

Section 5906.03 | Prohibited acts.

• Effective: July 2, 2010
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 48 - 128th General Assembly

(A) An employer shall not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or attempted exercise of a right established under this chapter.

(B) An employer shall not discharge, fine, suspend, expel, discipline, or discriminate against an employee with respect to any term or condition of employment because of the employee's actual or potential exercise, or support for another employee's exercise, of any right established under this chapter. This division does not prevent an employer from taking an employment action that is independent of the exercise of a right under this chapter.

(C) An employer shall not deprive an employee who takes leave pursuant to section 5906.02 of the Revised Code of any benefit that accrued before the date that leave commences.

(D) An employer shall not require an employee to waive the rights to which the employee is entitled pursuant to this chapter.

(E) On and after the effective date of this section, an employer shall not enter into a collective bargaining agreement or employee benefit plan that limits or requires an employee to waive the rights established under this chapter. An employer shall comply with any collective bargaining agreement or employee benefit plan that provides leave benefits similar to the type established under this chapter that are greater than the leave benefits established under this chapter.

(F) An employer may provide leave benefits greater than those established under this chapter.

Section 5906.99 | Violation of chapter.

• Effective: July 2, 2010
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 48 - 128th General Assembly

Whoever violates this chapter is subject to a civil action for injunctive relief or any other relief that a court finds necessary to secure a right provided by this chapter.