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To enact sections 4119.01, 4119.02, 4119.04, 4119.05, | 1 |
4119.06, 4119.07, 4119.08, and 4119.99 of the | 2 |
Revised Code to prohibit any requirement that | 3 |
employees of private employers join or pay dues to | 4 |
any employee organization and to establish civil | 5 |
and criminal penalties against employers who | 6 |
violate that prohibition. | 7 |
Section 1. That sections 4119.01, 4119.02, 4119.04, 4119.05, | 8 |
4119.06, 4119.07, 4119.08, and 4119.99 of the Revised Code be | 9 |
enacted to read as follows: | 10 |
Sec. 4119.01. As used in this chapter: | 11 |
(A) "Employee" and "employer" have the same meanings as in | 12 |
section 4113.51 of the Revised Code, except that "employer" does | 13 |
not include the state or any agency or instrumentality of the | 14 |
state, or any municipal corporation, county, township, school | 15 |
district, or other political subdivision or any agency or | 16 |
instrumentality of a municipal corporation, county, township, | 17 |
school district, or other political subdivision. | 18 |
(B) "Employee organization" means any labor or bona fide | 19 |
organization in which employees participate and that exists for | 20 |
the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers | 21 |
concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, hours, terms, and | 22 |
other conditions of employment. | 23 |
(C) "Injunctive relief" includes a permanent injunction, a | 24 |
temporary injunction, or a temporary restraining order. | 25 |
(D) "Labor dispute" includes any controversy, regardless of | 26 |
whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employee | 27 |
or employer, that concerns any of the following: | 28 |
(1) The terms or conditions of employment; | 29 |
(2) Employment relations; | 30 |
(3) The association or representation of persons in | 31 |
negotiations for the purpose of setting, maintaining, or changing | 32 |
the terms or conditions of employment; | 33 |
(4) Any other controversy arising out of the respective | 34 |
interests of the relationship between an employee and an employer. | 35 |
Sec. 4119.02. (A) The general assembly finds that | 36 |
governmental authority allows and encourages employers to organize | 37 |
in corporate and other forms of capital control, and, in dealing | 38 |
with these employers, an employee who is not represented by an | 39 |
employee organization is helpless to exercise liberty of contract | 40 |
or to protect personal freedom of labor and thus is helpless to | 41 |
obtain acceptable terms and conditions of employment. | 42 |
(B) The policy of this state is that the negotiation of terms | 43 |
and conditions of private sector employment should result from | 44 |
voluntary agreement between an employer and the employer's | 45 |
employees. Therefore, each employee must be fully free to | 46 |
associate, organize, and designate a representative, as the | 47 |
employee chooses, for the negotiation of the terms and conditions | 48 |
of employment in the private sector and must be free from | 49 |
coercion, interference, or restraint by the employee's employer or | 50 |
an agent of the employee's employer in designating a | 51 |
representative, self-organizing, or other concerted activity for | 52 |
the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or | 53 |
protection. | 54 |
(C) The policy of this state is that each employee must be | 55 |
fully free to decide whether to associate, organize, designate a | 56 |
representative, or join or assist an employee organization. | 57 |
Sec. 4119.04. (A) No employer shall do any of the following: | 58 |
(1) Require any employee to become or remain a member of any | 59 |
employee organization; | 60 |
(2) Require any employee to pay any dues, fees, assessments, | 61 |
or other charges to an employee organization; | 62 |
(3) Deduct from the wages, earnings, or compensation of any | 63 |
employee any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges to be held | 64 |
for or paid over to an employee organization unless the employer | 65 |
first receives a written authorization for those deductions as | 66 |
provided in division (A) of section 4119.05 of the Revised Code. | 67 |
(B) An employer and an employee organization shall not enter | 68 |
into an oral or written agreement, contract, or promise that | 69 |
violates division (A) of this section. Any such agreement, | 70 |
contract, or promise is void and unenforceable. | 71 |
Sec. 4119.05. (A) An employee may authorize the employee's | 72 |
employer to deduct from the employee's wages, earnings, or | 73 |
compensation any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges of any | 74 |
kind to be held for or paid over to an employee organization. The | 75 |
authorization shall be in writing and signed by the employee. | 76 |
(B) Every employer that receives a written authorization from | 77 |
an employee pursuant to division (A) of this section shall | 78 |
promptly notify the employee, in writing, that the employee may | 79 |
revoke the authorization at any time by providing the employer | 80 |
with a written notice of the revocation. The revocation becomes | 81 |
effective thirty days after the employer receives the revocation. | 82 |
Sec. 4119.06. (A) An employer shall post in a conspicuous | 83 |
place and keep continuously displayed the notice described in | 84 |
division (B) of this section. An employer shall provide a copy of | 85 |
the notice to each employee at the time the employee is first | 86 |
hired or rehired after a lapse of the employee's employment with | 87 |
that employer. | 88 |
(B) The notice required to be posted and distributed pursuant | 89 |
to division (A) of this section shall read as follows: | 90 |
"Under Ohio law, an employee who is employed by a private | 91 |
employer may choose whether to join an employee organization | 92 |
without penalty. It is unlawful for an employer and an employee | 93 |
organization to enter into a contract or agreement that requires | 94 |
employees to join or belong to an employee organization. It also | 95 |
is unlawful for a private employer to require employees to pay | 96 |
dues, fees, or charges of any kind to an employee organization as | 97 |
a condition of obtaining or keeping a job. A private employer may | 98 |
not discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee | 99 |
because the employee joined or refused to join an employee | 100 |
organization." | 101 |
Sec. 4119.07. (A) Any person who is injured or is likely to | 102 |
be injured as a result of a violation of section 4119.04 of the | 103 |
Revised Code may bring an action in the court of common pleas in | 104 |
the county in which the violation is alleged to have occurred, and | 105 |
may obtain injunctive relief and recover any actual damages the | 106 |
person sustained as a result of the violation or threatened | 107 |
violation. | 108 |
(B) A court does not have jurisdiction to grant injunctive | 109 |
relief under this section that specifically or generally prohibits | 110 |
a person from doing any of the following: | 111 |
(1) Ceasing or refusing to perform work or to remain in an | 112 |
employment relationship, regardless of a promise to do the work or | 113 |
to remain in the relationship; | 114 |
(2) Becoming or remaining a member of an employer or employee | 115 |
organization, regardless of a promise described in section 4113.02 | 116 |
of the Revised Code; | 117 |
(3) Paying or giving to, or withholding from, another person | 118 |
anything of value, including money, insurance, or strike or | 119 |
unemployment benefits; | 120 |
(4) Helping, by lawful means, another person to bring or | 121 |
defend against an action similar to an action described in | 122 |
division (A) of this section in a court of any state or the United | 123 |
States; | 124 |
(5) Publicizing, obtaining, or communicating information | 125 |
about the existence of or a fact involved in a labor dispute by | 126 |
any method that does not involve the act or threat of a breach of | 127 |
the peace, fraud, or violence, including advertising, speaking, | 128 |
and patrolling, with intimidation or coercion, a public street or | 129 |
other place where a person lawfully may be present; | 130 |
(6) Ceasing to patronize another person or to employ another | 131 |
person; | 132 |
(7) Assembling peacefully to do or to organize an act listed | 133 |
in divisions (B)(1) to (6) of this section; | 134 |
(8) Advising or giving another person notice of an intent to | 135 |
do an act listed in divisions (B)(1) to (7) of this section; | 136 |
(9) Agreeing with another person to do or not to do an act | 137 |
listed in divisions (B)(1) to (8) of this section; | 138 |
(10) Advising, inducing, or urging another person, without | 139 |
the act or threat of fraud or violence, to do an act listed in | 140 |
divisions (B)(1) to (9) of this section, regardless of a promise | 141 |
described in section 4113.02 of the Revised Code; | 142 |
(11) Performing an act listed in divisions (B)(1) to (10) of | 143 |
this section in concert with another person on the ground that the | 144 |
persons are engaged in an unlawful conspiracy. | 145 |
Sec. 4119.08. Any person may file a complaint alleging a | 146 |
violation of section 4119.04 of the Revised Code with the attorney | 147 |
general. The attorney general shall investigate any complaints of | 148 |
an alleged violation of that section. If, based on that | 149 |
investigation, the attorney general has reasonable cause to | 150 |
believe that an employer has violated that section, the attorney | 151 |
general shall prosecute the employer for the violation. | 152 |
Sec. 4119.99. Any employer or employee organization who | 153 |
violates section 4119.04 of the Revised Code is guilty of a | 154 |
misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment up to ninety days, a fine | 155 |
up to one thousand dollars, or both. | 156 |
Section 2. This act applies to all collective bargaining | 157 |
agreements entered into on or after the effective date of this | 158 |
act. | 159 |