To amend sections 4111.03, 4111.05, 4111.10, 4111.13, and 4111.99 and to enact section 4111.031 of the Revised Code to afford to private sector employers the option to offer and to employees the option to accrue and use compensatory time off.

Section 1.  That sections 4111.03, 4111.05, 4111.10, 4111.13, and 4111.99 be amended and section 4111.031 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 4111.03.  (A) An Except as otherwise provided in section 4111.031 of the Revised Code, an employer shall pay an employee for overtime at a wage rate of one and one-half times the employee's wage rate for hours worked in excess of forty hours in one workweek, in the manner and methods provided in and subject to the exemptions of section 7 and section 13 of the "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 207, 213, as amended.

Any employee employed in agriculture shall not be covered by the overtime provision of this section.

(B) If a county employee elects to take compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay, for any overtime worked, compensatory time may be granted by the employee's administrative superior, on a time and one-half basis, at a time mutually convenient to the employee and the administrative superior within one hundred eighty days after the overtime is worked.

(C) A county appointing authority with the exception of the county department of job and family services may, by rule or resolution as is appropriate, indicate the authority's intention not to be bound by division (B) of this section, and to adopt a different policy for the calculation and payment of overtime than that established by that division. Upon adoption, the alternative overtime policy prevails. Prior to the adoption of an alternative overtime policy, a county appointing authority with the exception of the county department of job and family services shall give a written notice of the alternative policy to each employee at least ten days prior to its effective date.

(D) As used in this section and section 4111.031 of the Revised Code:

(1) "Employ" means to suffer or to permit to work.

(2) "Employer" means the state of Ohio, its instrumentalities, and its political subdivisions and their instrumentalities, any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of persons, acting in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include an employer whose annual gross volume of sales made for business done is less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level which are separately stated.

(3) "Employee" means any individual employed by an employer but does not include:

(a) Any individual employed by the United States;

(b) Any individual employed as a baby-sitter in the employer's home, or a live-in companion to a sick, convalescing, or elderly person whose principal duties do not include housekeeping;

(c) Any individual engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer;

(d) Any individual employed as an outside salesperson compensated by commissions or employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity as such terms are defined by the "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 201, as amended;

(e) Any individual who works or provides personal services of a charitable nature in a hospital or health institution for which compensation is not sought or contemplated;

(f) A member of a police or fire protection agency or student employed on a part-time or seasonal basis by a political subdivision of this state;

(g) Any individual in the employ of a camp or recreational area for children under eighteen years of age and owned and operated by a nonprofit organization or group of organizations described in Section 501 (c)(3) of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1954," and exempt from income tax under Section 501 (a) of that code;

(h) Any individual employed directly by the house of representatives or directly by the senate.

(4) "Monetary overtime compensation" means pay for overtime as required by division (A) of this section.

(5) "Compensatory time off" means hours during which an employee is not working that are not counted as hours worked during the applicable work week or other work period for purposes of overtime compensation and for which the employer compensates the employee at the employee's regular rate of pay.

(6) "To bargain collectively" means the performance of the mutual obligation of the representative of an employer and the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit to meet at reasonable times and to consult and bargain in a good faith effort to reach agreement with respect to the conditions of employment affecting the employees and to execute, if requested by either party, a written document incorporating any collective bargaining agreement reached, but the obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or to make a concession.

(7) "Collective bargaining agreement" means an agreement entered into as a result of employees bargaining collectively with an employer.

(8) "Exclusive representative" means any labor or employee organization that is certified as the exclusive representative of employees by means of any one of the following processes:

(a) Pursuant to the "National Labor Relations Act," 49 Stat. 449 (1935), 29 U.S.C. 151, as amended;

(b) Pursuant to Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code;

(c) Recognition by an employer, immediately before the effective date of this amendment, as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit, on the basis of an election or on any other basis, and that continues to be so recognized.

(9) "Regular rate" includes all remuneration for employment paid to, or on behalf of, an employee except:

(a) Sums paid as gifts, or payments in the nature of gifts made on the occasion of a holiday or other special occasion as a reward for service, the amounts of which are not measured by or dependent on hours worked, production, or efficiency;

(b) Payments made for occasional periods when no work is performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, failure of the employer to provide sufficient work, or other similar cause, reasonable payment for traveling expenses or other expenses incurred by an employee in the furtherance of the employer's interests and properly reimbursable by the employer, and other similar payments to an employee that are not made as compensation for hours of employment;

(c) Sums paid in recognition of services performed during a given period if any of the following applies:

(i) The decision to make payment and determine the amount of the payment is determined at the sole discretion of the employer at or near the end of the period, and not pursuant to any prior contract, agreement, or promise causing the employee to expect the payments regularly.

(ii) The payments are made pursuant to a bona fide profit-sharing plan or trust or bona fide thrift or savings plan.

(iii) The payments are talent fees paid to performers, including announcers, on radio and television programs.

(d) Contributions irrevocably made by an employer to a trustee or third person pursuant to a bona fide plan for providing old-age, retirement, life, accident, or health insurance or similar benefits for employees;

(e) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid for certain hours worked by the employee in a day or work week because the hours are worked in excess of eight in a day or in excess of the maximum work week applicable to the employee under division (A) of this section or in excess of the employee's normal working hours or regular working hours, as the case may be;

(f) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid for work by the employee on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, or on the sixth or seventh day of the work week where the premium rate is not less than one and one-half times the rate established in good faith for like work performed during nonovertime hours on other days;

(g) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid to an employee pursuant to an applicable employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, for work outside of the hours established in good faith by the contract or agreement and outside of the basic, normal, or regular workday that does not exceed eight hours, or of the work week that does not exceed the maximum work week applicable to the employee under division (A) of this section, where the premium rate is not less than one and one-half times the rate established in good faith by the contract or agreement for like work performed during the workday or work week.

Sec. 4111.031. (A) An employee other than an employee described in division (J) of this section may receive, in accordance with this section and in lieu of monetary overtime compensation, compensatory time off at a rate of not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which monetary overtime compensation otherwise is required by division (A) of section 4111.03 of the Revised Code.

(B) An employer may provide compensatory time off to employees pursuant to this section only in accordance with the following provisions and conditions:

(1) The applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the exclusive representative of the employees recognized as provided in section 9(a) of the "National Labor Relations Act," 49 Stat. 449 (1935), 29 U.S.C. 159(a), as amended;

(2) In the case of employees who are not represented by a labor organization as provided in section 9(a) of the "National Labor Relations Act," 49 Stat. 449 (1935), 29 U.S.C. 159(a), as amended, an agreement or understanding arrived at between the employer and employee before the performance of the work involved, if the agreement or understanding is entered into knowingly and voluntarily by and at the initiation and request of the employee, and is not a condition of employment;

(3) If the employee has affirmed in a written or otherwise verifiable statement that is made, kept, and preserved in accordance with section 4111.08 and rules adopted under section 4111.05 of the Revised Code that the employee has initiated a request to receive compensatory time off in lieu of monetary overtime compensation;

(4) If the employee has not accrued compensatory time off in excess of the limit applicable to the employee as prescribed in division (C) of this section.

(C) An employee may accrue not more than two hundred forty hours of compensatory time off.

(D) Not later than the thirty-first day of January of each calendar year, an employer shall provide monetary overtime compensation at the rate prescribed by division (H) of this section for any unused compensatory time off accrued during the preceding calendar year that was not used prior to the thirty-first day of December of the preceding calendar year. An employer may designate and communicate to its employees an alternative twelve-month period other than the calendar year, in which case the monetary overtime compensation payment required by this division shall be paid not later than thirty-one days after the end of the alternative twelve-month period. An employer may provide monetary overtime compensation at the rate required by division (H) of this section for an employee's unused compensatory time off in excess of eighty hours at any time after giving the employee written notice of that intent at least thirty days before providing that compensation.

(E) An employer that has adopted a policy offering compensatory time off to employees may discontinue that policy upon giving the employees written notice of that intent at least thirty days before the discontinuation.

(F) An employee may withdraw an agreement or understanding described in division (B)(2) of this section at any time and may request in writing that monetary overtime compensation be provided, at any time, for all compensatory time off accrued that has not yet been used at the time the employee makes the request. Within thirty days after receipt of the written request, the employer shall pay to the employee the monetary overtime compensation due in accordance with division (H) of this section.

(G) Any payment owed to an employee under this section for unused compensatory time off shall be considered unpaid monetary overtime compensation. An employer shall pay monetary overtime compensation, in accordance with division (H) of this section, to an employee who has accrued unused compensatory time off pursuant to this section, upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of employment.

(H) If an employer pays monetary overtime compensation to an employee for accrued compensatory time off, the employer shall make payment based on a rate of compensation that is the higher of:

(1) The regular rate of pay received by the employee when the compensatory time off was earned;

(2) The final regular rate of pay received by the employee.

(I) An employer shall permit an employee who has accrued compensatory time off authorized under this section and who has requested the use of the compensatory time off, the use of that time within a reasonable period after the employee makes the request, if the use of the compensatory time off does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.

(J) This section does not apply to any of the following employees:

(1) An employee of the state, its instrumentalities, or its political subdivisions or their instrumentalities;

(2) An individual employed by a contractor or subcontractor to perform labor or provide services to construct, alter, erect, improve, repair, demolish, remove, dig, or drill any part of a structure or improvement.

(K) As used in division (J)(2) of this section, "contractor" has the same meaning as in section 4113.61 of the Revised Code and "subcontractor" has the same meaning as in section 1311.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 4111.05.  The director of commerce shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code as the director considers appropriate to carry out the purposes of sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code. The rules may be amended from time to time and may include, but are not limited to, rules defining and governing apprentices, their number, proportion, and length of service; bonuses and special pay for special or extra work; permitted deductions or charges to employees for board, lodging, apparel, or other facilities or services customarily furnished by employers to employees; inclusion of ascertainable gratuities in wages paid; allowances for unascertainable gratuities or for other special conditions or circumstances which may be usual in particular employer-employee relationships; compensatory time off for employees pursuant to section 4111.031 of the Revised Code; and the method of computation or the period of time over which wages may be averaged to determine whether the minimum wage or overtime rate has been paid.

Sec. 4111.10.  (A) Any employer who pays any employee less than wages to which the employee is entitled under section 4111.03 of the Revised Code, is liable to the employee affected for the full amount of the overtime wage rate, less any amount actually paid to the employee by the employer, and for costs and reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court. Any agreement between the employee and the employer to work for less than the overtime wage rate is no defense to an action.

(B) Any employer who violates division (D) of section 4111.13 of the Revised Code is liable to the employee affected in a dollar amount equal to:

(1) The product of:

(a) The rate of compensation determined in accordance with division (H) of section 4111.031 of the Revised Code; and

(b) The number of hours of compensatory time off involved in the violation that was initially accrued by the employee minus the number of compensatory time off hours used by the employee; and

(2) As liquidated damages, the product of:

(a) The rate of compensation determined in accordance with division (H) of section 4111.031 of the Revised Code; and

(b) The number of hours of compensatory time off involved in the violation that was initially accrued by the employee; and

(3) Costs and reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court.

The liability imposed under this division is in addition to any other civil or criminal liability imposed pursuant to sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code.

(C) At the written request of any employee paid less than the wages to which the employee is entitled under section 4111.03 of the Revised Code, the director of commerce may take an assignment of a wage claim in trust for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary to collect the claim. The employer shall pay the costs and reasonable attorney's fees allowed by the court.

(D) As used in this section, "compensatory time off" has the same meaning as in section 4111.03 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 4111.13.  (A) No employer shall hinder or delay the director of commerce in the performance of the director's duties in the enforcement of sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code, or refuse to admit the director to any place of employment, or fail to make, keep, and preserve any records as required under those sections, or falsify any of those records, or refuse to make them accessible to the director upon demand, or refuse to furnish them or any other information required for the proper enforcement of those sections to the director upon demand, or fail to post a summary of those sections or a copy of any applicable rules as required by section 4111.09 of the Revised Code. Each day of violation constitutes a separate offense.

(B) No employer shall discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because the employee has made any complaint to the employee's employer, or to the director, that the employee has not been paid wages in accordance with sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code, or because the employee has made any complaint or is about to cause to be instituted any proceeding under or related to those sections, or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in any proceeding.

(C) No employer shall pay or agree to pay wages at a rate less than the rate applicable under sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code. Each week or portion thereof for which the employer pays any employee less than the rate applicable under those sections constitutes a separate offense as to each employer.

(D) No employer that provides compensatory time off under section 4111.031 of the Revised Code shall, directly or indirectly, intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or terminate or attempt to terminate the employment of, any employee for the purposes of:

(1) Interfering with the rights of the employee to request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of monetary overtime compensation for overtime hours;

(2) Requiring an employee to use compensatory time off.

(E) No employer shall otherwise violate sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code, or any rule adopted thereunder. Each day of violation constitutes a separate offense.

(F) As used in this section:

(1) "Intimidate, threaten, or coerce" includes promising to confer or conferring any benefit including appointment, promotion, or compensation, or effecting or threatening to effect any reprisal, including deprivation of appointment, promotion, or compensation;

(2) "Compensatory time off" has the same meaning as in section 4111.03 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 4111.99.  (A) Whoever violates division (A) or (D)(E) of section 4111.13 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

(B) Whoever violates division (B) or, (C), or (D) of section 4111.13 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.

(C) Whoever violates section 4111.17 of the Revised Code is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.

Section 2.  That existing sections 4111.03, 4111.05, 4111.10, 4111.13, and 4111.99 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3.  Not later than thirty days after the effective date of this section, the Director of Commerce shall revise the printed materials that the Director makes available to employers and employees for the purpose of explaining the requirements of sections 4111.01 to 4111.17 of the Revised Code to reflect the amendments made to those sections by this act.

Section 4.  Section 4111.03 of the Revised Code is presented in this act as a composite of the section as amended by both Sub. H.B. 187 and Am. Sub. H.B. 690 of the 126th General Assembly. The General Assembly, applying the principle stated in division (B) of section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation, finds that the composite is the resulting version of the section in effect prior to the effective date of the section as presented in this act.