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To enact sections 4173.01, 4173.02, and 4173.03 of | 1 |
the Revised Code as a "good Samaritan law" to | 2 |
encourage retail establishments to allow customers | 3 |
with eligible medical conditions to use the retail | 4 |
establishment's restrooms that are not usually | 5 |
available to the public and to limit the liability | 6 |
of an establishment that allows such access. | 7 |
Section 1. That sections 4173.01, 4173.02, and 4173.03 of | 8 |
the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows: | 9 |
Sec. 4173.01. As used in this chapter: | 10 |
(A) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the | 11 |
premises of a retail establishment. | 12 |
(B) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, | 13 |
ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, | 14 |
irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that | 15 |
requires immediate access to a toilet facility. | 16 |
(C) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to | 17 |
the general public for the sale of goods or services. "Retail | 18 |
establishment" does not include a filling station or service | 19 |
station, with a structure of eight hundred square feet or less, | 20 |
that has an employee toilet facility located within that | 21 |
structure. | 22 |
Sec. 4173.02. (A) Any retail establishment that has a toilet | 23 |
facility for its employees is encouraged to permit a customer to | 24 |
use that facility during normal business hours if the toilet | 25 |
facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions | 26 |
are met: | 27 |
(1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet | 28 |
facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an | 29 |
ostomy device. | 30 |
(2) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area | 31 |
where providing access would create an obvious health or safety | 32 |
risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail | 33 |
establishment. | 34 |
(3) A public restroom or employee restroom normally available | 35 |
to the public is not immediately accessible to the customer. | 36 |
(B) This section does not require a retail establishment to | 37 |
make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility. | 38 |
(C) No restroom facility, by reason of being made available | 39 |
to a customer pursuant to this section, shall be considered a | 40 |
public facility for the purpose of laws or regulations that | 41 |
generally govern facilities available to the public. That restroom | 42 |
facility shall be governed by the laws and regulations that | 43 |
otherwise would govern the facility if it were not made available | 44 |
to a customer pursuant to this section. | 45 |
Sec. 4173.03. No retail establishment or an employee of a | 46 |
retail establishment shall be liable in any civil action for an | 47 |
injury or death of a customer resulting from any act or omission | 48 |
in allowing a customer to use an employee toilet facility pursuant | 49 |
to section 4173.02 of the Revised Code if the act or omission is | 50 |
not willful or grossly negligent. | 51 |