As Introduced

128th General Assembly
Regular Session
2009-2010
H. B. No. 48


Representative Ujvagi 

Cosponsors: Representatives Phillips, Murray, Pryor, Harris, Dodd, Lundy, Book, Letson, Fende, Yuko, Skindell 



A BILL
To amend section 4117.10 and to enact sections 1
5906.01, 5906.02, 5906.03, and 5906.99 of the 2
Revised Code to provide two weeks of leave for any 3
employee who is the spouse or parent of a member 4
of the uniformed services who is called to active 5
duty or is injured, wounded, or hospitalized while 6
serving in a combat zone.7


BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

       Section 1. That section 4117.10 be amended and sections 8
5906.01, 5906.02, 5906.03, and 5906.99 of the Revised Code be 9
enacted to read as follows:10

       Sec. 4117.10.  (A) An agreement between a public employer and 11
an exclusive representative entered into pursuant to this chapter 12
governs the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of public 13
employment covered by the agreement. If the agreement provides for 14
a final and binding arbitration of grievances, public employers, 15
employees, and employee organizations are subject solely to that 16
grievance procedure and the state personnel board of review or 17
civil service commissions have no jurisdiction to receive and 18
determine any appeals relating to matters that were the subject of 19
a final and binding grievance procedure. Where no agreement exists 20
or where an agreement makes no specification about a matter, the 21
public employer and public employees are subject to all applicable 22
state or local laws or ordinances pertaining to the wages, hours, 23
and terms and conditions of employment for public employees. Laws 24
pertaining to civil rights, affirmative action, unemployment 25
compensation, workers' compensation, the retirement of public 26
employees, and residency requirements, the minimum educational 27
requirements contained in the Revised Code pertaining to public 28
education including the requirement of a certificate by the fiscal 29
officer of a school district pursuant to section 5705.41 of the 30
Revised Code, the provisions of division (A) of section 124.34 of 31
the Revised Code governing the disciplining of officers and 32
employees who have been convicted of a felony, and the minimum 33
standards promulgated by the state board of education pursuant to 34
division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code prevail over 35
conflicting provisions of agreements between employee 36
organizations and public employers. The law pertaining to the 37
leave of absence and compensation provided under section 5923.05 38
of the Revised Code prevails over any conflicting provisions of 39
such agreements if the terms of the agreement contain benefits 40
which are less than those contained in that section or the 41
agreement contains no such terms and the public authority is the 42
state or any agency, authority, commission, or board of the state 43
or if the public authority is another entity listed in division 44
(B) of section 4117.01 of the Revised Code that elects to provide 45
leave of absence and compensation as provided in section 5923.05 46
of the Revised Code. The law pertaining to the leave established 47
under section 5906.02 of the Revised Code prevails over any 48
conflicting provision of an agreement between an employee 49
organization and public employer if the terms of the agreement 50
contain benefits that are less than those contained in section 51
5906.02 of the Revised Code. Except for sections 306.08, 306.12, 52
306.35, and 4981.22 of the Revised Code and arrangements entered 53
into thereunder, and section 4981.21 of the Revised Code as 54
necessary to comply with section 13(c) of the "Urban Mass 55
Transportation Act of 1964," 87 Stat. 295, 49 U.S.C.A. 1609(c), as 56
amended, and arrangements entered into thereunder, this chapter 57
prevails over any and all other conflicting laws, resolutions, 58
provisions, present or future, except as otherwise specified in 59
this chapter or as otherwise specified by the general assembly. 60
Nothing in this section prohibits or shall be construed to 61
invalidate the provisions of an agreement establishing 62
supplemental workers' compensation or unemployment compensation 63
benefits or exceeding minimum requirements contained in the 64
Revised Code pertaining to public education or the minimum 65
standards promulgated by the state board of education pursuant to 66
division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code.67

       (B) The public employer shall submit a request for funds68
necessary to implement an agreement and for approval of any other69
matter requiring the approval of the appropriate legislative body70
to the legislative body within fourteen days of the date on which71
the parties finalize the agreement, unless otherwise specified,72
but if the appropriate legislative body is not in session at the73
time, then within fourteen days after it convenes. The legislative 74
body must approve or reject the submission as a whole, and the 75
submission is deemed approved if the legislative body fails to act 76
within thirty days after the public employer submits the 77
agreement. The parties may specify that those provisions of the 78
agreement not requiring action by a legislative body are effective 79
and operative in accordance with the terms of the agreement, 80
provided there has been compliance with division (C) of this 81
section. If the legislative body rejects the submission of the 82
public employer, either party may reopen all or part of the entire 83
agreement.84

       As used in this section, "legislative body" includes the 85
governing board of a municipal corporation, school district, 86
college or university, village, township, or board of county 87
commissioners or any other body that has authority to approve the 88
budget of their public jurisdiction and, with regard to the state, 89
"legislative body" means the controlling board.90

       (C) The chief executive officer, or the chief executive91
officer's representative, of each municipal corporation, the 92
designated representative of the board of education of each school 93
district, college or university, or any other body that has 94
authority to approve the budget of their public jurisdiction, the 95
designated representative of the board of county commissioners and 96
of each elected officeholder of the county whose employees are 97
covered by the collective negotiations, and the designated 98
representative of the village or the board of township trustees of 99
each township is responsible for negotiations in the collective 100
bargaining process; except that the legislative body may accept or 101
reject a proposed collective bargaining agreement. When the 102
matters about which there is agreement are reduced to writing and 103
approved by the employee organization and the legislative body, 104
the agreement is binding upon the legislative body, the employer, 105
and the employee organization and employees covered by the 106
agreement.107

       (D) There is hereby established an office of collective108
bargaining in the department of administrative services for the109
purpose of negotiating with and entering into written agreements110
between state agencies, departments, boards, and commissions and111
the exclusive representative on matters of wages, hours, terms and 112
other conditions of employment and the continuation, modification, 113
or deletion of an existing provision of a collective bargaining 114
agreement. Nothing in any provision of law to the contrary shall 115
be interpreted as excluding the bureau of workers' compensation 116
and the industrial commission from the preceding sentence. This 117
office shall not negotiate on behalf of other statewide elected 118
officials or boards of trustees of state institutions of higher 119
education who shall be considered as separate public employers for 120
the purposes of this chapter; however, the office may negotiate on 121
behalf of these officials or trustees where authorized by the 122
officials or trustees. The staff of the office of collective 123
bargaining are in the unclassified service. The director of 124
administrative services shall fix the compensation of the staff.125

       The office of collective bargaining shall:126

       (1) Assist the director in formulating management's127
philosophy for public collective bargaining as well as planning128
bargaining strategies;129

       (2) Conduct negotiations with the exclusive representatives 130
of each employee organization;131

       (3) Coordinate the state's resources in all mediation,132
fact-finding, and arbitration cases as well as in all labor133
disputes;134

       (4) Conduct systematic reviews of collective bargaining135
agreements for the purpose of contract negotiations;136

       (5) Coordinate the systematic compilation of data by all137
agencies that is required for negotiating purposes;138

       (6) Prepare and submit an annual report and other reports as 139
requested to the governor and the general assembly on the140
implementation of this chapter and its impact upon state141
government.142

       Sec. 5906.01.  As used in this chapter:143

       (A) "Active duty" means full-time duty in the active military 144
service of the United States or active duty pursuant to an 145
executive order of the president of the United States, an act of 146
the congress of the United States, or a proclamation of the 147
governor. "Active duty" does not include active duty for training, 148
initial active duty for training, or the period of time for which 149
a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose 150
of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to 151
perform any duty unless such period is contemporaneous with an 152
active duty period.153

       (B) "Benefits" means the employment benefits, other than 154
salary or wages, that an employer regularly provides or makes 155
available to employees, including, but not limited to, medical 156
insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, pension plans, 157
and retirement plans.158

       (C) "Employer" means a person who employs fifteen or more 159
employees and includes the state or any agency or instrumentality 160
of the state, and any municipal corporation, county, township, 161
school district, or other political subdivision of the state.162

       (D) "Employee" has the same meaning as in section 4113.51 of 163
the Revised Code.164

       (E) "Uniformed services" means the armed forces, the Ohio 165
organized militia when engaged in full-time national guard duty, 166
the commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other 167
category of persons designated by the president of the United 168
States in time of war or emergency.169

       Sec. 5906.02.  (A) An employer shall allow an employee to 170
take leave up to ten days or eighty hours, whichever is less, if 171
all of the following conditions are satisfied:172

       (1) The employer has employed the employee for at least 173
twelve consecutive months and for at least one thousand two 174
hundred fifty hours in the twelve months immediately preceding 175
commencement of the leave.176

       (2) The employee is the parent or spouse of a person who is a 177
member of the uniformed services and who is called into active 178
duty in the uniformed services for a period longer than thirty 179
days.180

       (3) The employee gives notice to the employer that the 181
employee intends to take leave pursuant to this section at least 182
fourteen days prior to taking the leave.183

       (4) The dates on which the employee takes leave pursuant to 184
this section occur no more than two weeks prior to or one week 185
after the deployment date of the employee's spouse or child.186

       (5) The employee does not have any other leave available for 187
the employee's use except sick leave or disability leave.188

       (B) An employer shall continue to provide benefits to the 189
employee during the period of time the employee is on leave 190
pursuant to this section. The employee shall be responsible for 191
the same proportion of the cost of the benefits as the employee 192
regularly pays during periods of time when the employee is not on 193
leave. The employer is not required to pay salary or wages to the 194
employee during the period of time the employee is on leave 195
pursuant to this section.196

       Upon the completion of the leave taken pursuant to this 197
section, the employer shall restore the employee to the position 198
the employee held prior to taking that leave or a position with 199
equivalent seniority, benefits, pay, and other terms and 200
conditions of employment.201

       (C) An employer may require an employee requesting to use the 202
leave established under this section to provide certification from 203
the appropriate military authority to verify that the employee 204
satisfies the criteria described in divisions (A)(2), (3), and 205
(4) of this section.206

       Sec. 5906.03.  (A) An employer shall not interfere with, 207
restrain, or deny the exercise or attempted exercise of a right 208
established under this chapter.209

       (B) An employer shall not discharge, fine, suspend, expel, 210
discipline, or discriminate against an employee with respect to 211
any term or condition of employment because of the employee's 212
actual or potential exercise, or support for another employee's 213
exercise, of any right established under this chapter. This 214
division does not prevent an employer from taking an employment 215
action that is independent of the exercise of a right under this 216
chapter.217

       (C) An employer shall not deprive an employee who takes leave 218
pursuant to section 5906.02 of the Revised Code of any benefit 219
that accrued before the date that leave commences.220

       (D) An employer shall not require an employee to waive the 221
rights to which the employee is entitled pursuant to this chapter.222

       (E) On and after the effective date of this section, an 223
employer shall not enter into a collective bargaining agreement or 224
employee benefit plan that limits or requires an employee to waive 225
the rights established under this chapter. An employer shall 226
comply with any collective bargaining agreement or employee 227
benefit plan that provides leave benefits similar to the type 228
established under this chapter that are greater than the leave 229
benefits established under this chapter.230

       (F) An employer may provide leave benefits greater than those 231
established under this chapter. 232

       Sec. 5906.99.  Whoever violates this chapter is subject to a 233
civil action for injunctive relief or any other relief that a 234
court finds necessary to secure a right provided by this chapter.235

       Section 2. That existing section 4117.10 of the Revised Code 236
is hereby repealed.237

       Section 3. This act does apply to employers and employees, as 238
defined in section 5906.01 of the Revised Code as enacted by this 239
act, who have entered into a collective bargaining agreement or 240
other contract of employment that is in effect before the 241
effective date of this act and that conflicts with this act, but 242
shall apply to such employers and employees immediately upon the 243
expiration of such conflicting agreement or contract.244