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S. B. No. 231 As IntroducedAs Introduced
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Senators Skindell, Tavares
Cosponsors:
Senators Cafaro, Smith, Turner
A BILL
To amend sections 9.03, 124.93, 125.111, 340.12,
511.03, 717.01, 1501.012, 1751.18, 2927.03,
3113.36, 3301.53, 3304.14, 3304.50, 3313.481,
3314.06, 3332.09, 3721.13, 3905.55, 4111.17,
4112.01, 4112.02, 4112.021, 4112.04, 4112.05,
4112.08, 4117.19, 4735.16, 4735.55, 4757.07,
4758.16, 4765.18, 5104.09, 5107.26, 5111.31,
5119.623, 5123.351, 5126.07, 5515.08, and 5709.832
of the Revised Code to prohibit discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 9.03, 124.93, 125.111, 340.12,
511.03, 717.01, 1501.012, 1751.18, 2927.03, 3113.36, 3301.53,
3304.14, 3304.50, 3313.481, 3314.06, 3332.09, 3721.13, 3905.55,
4111.17, 4112.01, 4112.02, 4112.021, 4112.04, 4112.05, 4112.08,
4117.19, 4735.16, 4735.55, 4757.07, 4758.16, 4765.18, 5104.09,
5107.26, 5111.31, 5119.623, 5123.351, 5126.07, 5515.08, and
5709.832 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 9.03. (A) As used in this section, "political
subdivision" means any body corporate and politic, except a
municipal corporation that has adopted a charter under Section 7
of Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution, and except a county that has
adopted a charter under Sections 3 and 4 of Article X, Ohio
Constitution, to which both of the following apply:
(1) It is responsible for governmental activities only in a
geographic area smaller than the state.
(2) It is subject to the sovereign immunity of the state.
(B) Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this
section, the governing body of a political subdivision may use
public funds to publish and distribute newsletters, or to use any
other means, to communicate information about the plans, policies,
and operations of the political subdivision to members of the
public within the political subdivision and to other persons who
may be affected by the political subdivision.
(C) Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(7) of
section 340.03 or division (A)(12) of section 340.033 of the
Revised Code, no governing body of a political subdivision shall
use public funds to do any of the following:
(1) Publish, distribute, or otherwise communicate information
that does any of the following:
(a) Contains defamatory, libelous, or obscene matter;
(b) Promotes alcoholic beverages, cigarettes or other tobacco
products, or any illegal product, service, or activity;
(c) Promotes illegal discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation or gender identity as those terms are defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, gender, race, color,
religion, national origin, handicap, age, or ancestry;
(d) Supports or opposes any labor organization or any action
by, on behalf of, or against any labor organization;
(e) Supports or opposes the nomination or election of a
candidate for public office, the investigation, prosecution, or
recall of a public official, or the passage of a levy or bond
issue.
(2) Compensate any employee of the political subdivision for
time spent on any activity to influence the outcome of an election
for any of the purposes described in division (C)(1)(e) of this
section. Division (C)(2) of this section does not prohibit the use
of public funds to compensate an employee of a political
subdivision for attending a public meeting to present information
about the political subdivision's finances, activities, and
governmental actions in a manner that is not designed to influence
the outcome of an election or the passage of a levy or bond issue,
even though the election, levy, or bond issue is discussed or
debated at the meeting.
(D) Nothing in this section prohibits or restricts any
political subdivision from sponsoring, participating in, or doing
any of the following:
(1) Charitable or public service advertising that is not
commercial in nature;
(2) Advertising of exhibitions, performances, programs,
products, or services that are provided by employees of a
political subdivision or are provided at or through premises owned
or operated by a political subdivision;
(3) Licensing an interest in a name or mark that is owned or
controlled by the political subdivision.
(E) As used in this section, "cigarettes" and "tobacco
product" have the same meanings as in section 5743.01 of the
Revised Code.
Sec. 124.93. (A) As used in this section, "physician" means
any person who holds a valid certificate to practice medicine and
surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery issued under Chapter
4731. of the Revised Code.
(B) No health insuring corporation that, on or after July 1,
1993, enters into or renews a contract with the department of
administrative services under section 124.82 of the Revised Code,
because of a physician's race, color, religion, sex gender, or
national origin,; disability, sexual orientation, gender identity,
or military status, as
those terms are defined in section 4112.01
of the Revised Code,; age,; or ancestry, shall refuse to contract
with that physician for the provision of health care services
under section 124.82 of the Revised Code.
Any health insuring corporation that violates this division
is deemed to have engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice
as defined in section 4112.02 of the Revised Code and is subject
to Chapter 4112. of the Revised Code.
(C) Each health insuring corporation that, on or after July
1, 1993, enters into or renews a contract with the department of
administrative services under section 124.82 of the Revised Code
and that refuses to contract with a physician for the provision of
health care services under that section shall provide that
physician with a written notice that clearly explains the reason
or reasons for the refusal. The notice shall be sent to the
physician by regular mail within thirty days after the refusal.
Any health insuring corporation that fails to provide notice
in compliance with this division is deemed to have engaged in an
unfair and deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance
as defined in section 3901.21 of the Revised Code and is subject
to sections 3901.19 to 3901.26 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 125.111. (A) Every contract for or on behalf of the
state or any of its political subdivisions for any purchase shall
contain provisions similar to those required by section 153.59 of
the Revised Code in the case of construction contracts by which
the contractor agrees to both of the following:
(1) That, in the hiring of employees for the performance of
work under the contract or any subcontract, no contractor or
subcontractor, by reason of race, color, religion, sex gender, or
age,; disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or military
status, as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code,; national origin,; or ancestry, shall discriminate
against any citizen of this state in the employment of a person
qualified and available to perform the work to which the contract
relates;
(2) That no contractor, subcontractor, or person acting on
behalf of any contractor or subcontractor, in any manner, shall
discriminate against, intimidate, or retaliate against any
employee hired for the performance of work under the contract on
account of race, color, religion, sex gender, or age,; disability,
sexual orientation, gender identity, or military status, as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,;
national origin,; or ancestry.
(B) All contractors from whom the state or any of its
political subdivisions make purchases shall have a written
affirmative action program for the employment and effective
utilization of economically disadvantaged persons, as referred to
in division (E)(1) of section 122.71 of the Revised Code.
Annually, each such contractor shall file a description of the
affirmative action program and a progress report on its
implementation with the equal employment opportunity office of the
department of administrative services.
Sec. 340.12. No board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental
health services or any agency, corporation, or association under
contract with such a board shall discriminate in the provision of
services under its authority, in employment, or contract on the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color, sex
gender, creed, disability, or national origin.
Each board, each community mental health agency, and each
alcohol and drug addiction program shall have a written
affirmative action program. The affirmative action program shall
include goals for the employment and effective utilization of,
including contracts with, members of economically disadvantaged
groups as defined in division (E)(1) of section 122.71 of the
Revised Code in percentages reflecting as nearly as possible the
composition of the alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health
service district served by the board. Each board, agency, and
program shall file a description of the affirmative action program
and a progress report on its implementation with the department of
mental health or the department of alcohol and drug addiction
services.
Sec. 511.03. After an affirmative vote in an election held
under sections 511.01 and 511.02 of the Revised Code, the board of
township trustees may make all contracts necessary for the
purchase of a site, and the erection, improvement, or enlargement
of such building. The board shall have control of any town hall
belonging to the township, and it may rent or lease all or part of
any hall, lodge, or recreational facility belonging to the
township, to any person or organization under terms the board
considers proper, for which all rent shall be paid in advance or
fully secured. In establishing the terms of any rental agreement
or lease pursuant to this section, the board of township trustees
may give preference to persons who are residents of or
organizations that are headquartered in the township or that are
charitable or fraternal in nature. All persons or organizations
shall be treated on a like or similar basis, and no
differentiation shall be made on the basis of sexual orientation
or gender identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01
of the Revised Code, race, color, religion, national origin, sex
gender, or political affiliation. The rents received for such
facilities may be used for their repair or improvement, and any
balance shall be used for general township purposes.
Sec. 717.01. Each municipal corporation may do any of the
following:
(A) Acquire by purchase or condemnation real estate with or
without buildings on it, and easements or interests in real
estate;
(B) Extend, enlarge, reconstruct, repair, equip, furnish, or
improve a building or improvement that it is authorized to acquire
or construct;
(C) Erect a crematory or provide other means for disposing of
garbage or refuse, and erect public comfort stations;
(D) Purchase turnpike roads and make them free;
(E) Construct wharves and landings on navigable waters;
(F) Construct infirmaries, workhouses, prisons, police
stations, houses of refuge and correction, market houses, public
halls, public offices, municipal garages, repair shops, storage
houses, and warehouses;
(G) Construct or acquire waterworks for supplying water to
the municipal corporation and its inhabitants and extend the
waterworks system outside of the municipal corporation limits;
(H) Construct or purchase gas works or works for the
generation and transmission of electricity, for the supplying of
gas or electricity to the municipal corporation and its
inhabitants;
(I) Provide grounds for cemeteries or crematories, enclose
and embellish them, and construct vaults or crematories;
(J) Construct sewers, sewage disposal works, flushing
tunnels, drains, and ditches;
(K) Construct free public libraries and reading rooms, and
free recreation centers;
(L) Establish free public baths and municipal lodging houses;
(M) Construct monuments or memorial buildings to commemorate
the services of soldiers, sailors, and marines of the state and
nation;
(N) Provide land for and improve parks, boulevards, and
public playgrounds;
(O) Construct hospitals and pesthouses;
(P) Open, construct, widen, extend, improve, resurface, or
change the line of any street or public highway;
(Q) Construct and improve levees, dams, waterways,
waterfronts, and embankments and improve any watercourse passing
through the municipal corporation;
(R) Construct or improve viaducts, bridges, and culverts;
(S)(1) Construct any building necessary for the police or
fire department;
(2) Purchase fire engines or fire boats;
(3) Construct water towers or fire cisterns;
(4) Place underground the wires or signal apparatus of any
police or fire department.
(T) Construct any municipal ice plant for the purpose of
manufacturing ice for the citizens of a municipal corporation;
(U) Construct subways under any street or boulevard or
elsewhere;
(V) Acquire by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, lease,
condemnation proceedings, or otherwise, real or personal property,
and thereon and thereof to establish, construct, enlarge, improve,
equip, maintain, and operate airports, landing fields, or other
air navigation facilities, either within or outside the limits of
a municipal corporation, and acquire by purchase, gift, devise,
lease, or condemnation proceedings rights-of-way for connections
with highways, waterways, and electric, steam, and interurban
railroads, and improve and equip such facilities with structures
necessary or appropriate for such purposes. No municipal
corporation may take or disturb property or facilities belonging
to any public utility or to a common carrier engaged in interstate
commerce, which property or facilities are required for the proper
and convenient operation of the utility or carrier, unless
provision is made for the restoration, relocation, or duplication
of the property or facilities elsewhere at the sole cost of the
municipal corporation.
(W) Provide by agreement with any regional airport authority,
created under section 308.03 of the Revised Code, for the making
of necessary surveys, appraisals, and examinations preliminary to
the acquisition or construction of any airport or airport facility
and pay the portion of the expense of the surveys, appraisals, and
examinations as set forth in the agreement;
(X) Provide by agreement with any regional airport authority,
created under section 308.03 of the Revised Code, for the
acquisition, construction, maintenance, or operation of any
airport or airport facility owned or to be owned and operated by
the regional airport authority or owned or to be owned and
operated by the municipal corporation and pay the portion of the
expense of it as set forth in the agreement;
(Y) Acquire by gift, purchase, lease, or condemnation, land,
forest, and water rights necessary for conservation of forest
reserves, water parks, or reservoirs, either within or without the
limits of the municipal corporation, and improve and equip the
forest and water parks with structures, equipment, and
reforestation necessary or appropriate for any purpose for the
utilization of any of the forest and water benefits that may
properly accrue therefrom to the municipal corporation;
(Z) Acquire real property by purchase, gift, or devise and
construct and maintain on it public swimming pools, either within
or outside the limits of the municipal corporation;
(AA) Construct or rehabilitate, equip, maintain, operate, and
lease facilities for housing of elderly persons and for persons of
low and moderate income, and appurtenant facilities. No municipal
corporation shall deny housing accommodations to or withhold
housing accommodations from elderly persons or persons of low and
moderate income because of race, color, religion, sex, or gender;
familial status as defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,
military status as defined in that section, disability
as defined
in that section, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code;
ancestry,; or national origin. Any elderly person or person of low
or moderate income who is denied housing accommodations or has
them withheld by a municipal corporation because of race, color,
religion, sex, or gender; familial status
as defined in section
4112.01 of the Revised Code, military status
as defined in that
section, disability as defined in that section, sexual
orientation, or gender identity, as those terms are defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code; ancestry,; or national origin
may file a charge with the Ohio civil rights commission as
provided in Chapter 4112. of the Revised Code.
(BB) Acquire, rehabilitate, and develop rail property or rail
service, and enter into agreements with the Ohio rail development
commission, boards of county commissioners, boards of township
trustees, legislative authorities of other municipal corporations,
with other governmental agencies or organizations, and with
private agencies or organizations in order to achieve those
purposes;
(CC) Appropriate and contribute money to a soil and water
conservation district for use under Chapter 1515. of the Revised
Code;
(DD) Authorize the board of county commissioners, pursuant to
a contract authorizing the action, to contract on the municipal
corporation's behalf for the administration and enforcement within
its jurisdiction of the state building code by another county or
another municipal corporation located within or outside the
county. The contract for administration and enforcement shall
provide for obtaining certification pursuant to division (E) of
section 3781.10 of the Revised Code for the exercise of
administration and enforcement authority within the municipal
corporation seeking those services and shall specify which
political subdivision is responsible for securing that
certification.
(EE) Expend money for providing and maintaining services and
facilities for senior citizens.
"Airport," "landing field," and "air navigation facility," as
defined in section 4561.01 of the Revised Code, apply to division
(V) of this section.
As used in divisions (W) and (X) of this section, "airport"
and "airport facility" have the same meanings as in section 308.01
of the Revised Code.
As used in division (BB) of this section, "rail property" and
"rail service" have the same meanings as in section 4981.01 of the
Revised Code.
Sec. 1501.012. (A) The director of natural resources may
lease lands in state parks, as defined in section 1501.07 of the
Revised Code, and contract for the construction and operation of
public service facilities, as mentioned in that section, and for
major renovation or remodeling of existing public service
facilities by the lessees on those lands. If the director
determines that doing so would be consistent with long-range
planning of the department of natural resources and in the best
interests of the department and the division of parks and
recreation in the department, the director shall negotiate and
execute a lease and contract for those purposes in accordance with
this chapter except as otherwise provided in this section.
(B) With the approval of the recreation and resources council
created under section 1501.04 of the Revised Code, the director
shall draft a statement of intent describing any public service
facility that the department wishes to have constructed in
accordance with this section and establishing a procedure for the
submission of proposals for providing the facility, including, but
not limited to, a requirement that each prospective bidder or
lessee of land shall submit with the proposal a completed
questionnaire and financial statement, on forms prescribed and
furnished by the department, to enable the department to ascertain
the person's financial worth and experience in maintaining and
operating facilities similar or related to the public service
facility in question. The completed questionnaire and financial
statement shall be verified under oath by the prospective bidder
or lessee. Questionnaires and financial statements submitted under
this division are confidential and are not open to public
inspection. Nothing in this division shall be construed to prevent
use of or reference to questionnaires and financial statements in
a civil action or criminal prosecution commenced by the state.
The director shall publish the statement of intent in at
least three daily newspapers of general circulation in the state
at least once each week for four consecutive weeks. The director
then shall accept proposals in response to the statement of intent
for at least thirty days following the final publication of the
statement. At the end of the period during which proposals may be
submitted under this division, the director shall select the
proposal that the director determines best complies with the
statement of intent and may negotiate a lease and contract with
the person that submitted that proposal.
(C) Any lease and contract negotiated under this section
shall include in its terms and conditions all of the following:
(1) The legal description of the leasehold;
(2) The duration of the lease and contract, which shall not
exceed forty years, and a requirement that the lease and contract
be nonrenewable;
(3) A requirement that the lessee maintain in full force and
effect during the term of the lease and contract comprehensive
liability insurance for injury, death, or loss to persons or
property and fire casualty insurance for the public service
facility and all its structures in an amount established by the
director and naming the department as an additional insured;
(4) A requirement that the lessee maintain in full force and
effect suitable performance bonds or other adequate security
pertaining to the construction and operation of the public service
facility;
(5) Detailed plans and specifications controlling the
construction of the public service facility that shall include all
of the following:
(a) The size and capacity of the facility;
(b) The type and quality of construction;
(c) Other criteria that the department considers necessary
and advisable.
(6) The manner of rental payment;
(7) A stipulation that the director shall have control and
supervision over all of the following:
(a) The operating season of the public service facility;
(b) The facility's hours of operation;
(c) The maximum rates to be charged guests using the
facility;
(d) The facility's sanitary conditions;
(e) The quality of food and service furnished the guests of
the facility;
(f) The lessee's general and structural maintenance
responsibilities at the facility.
(8) The disposition of the leasehold and improvements at the
expiration of the lease and contract;
(9) A requirement that the public service facility be
available to all members of the public without regard to sex
gender, race, color, creed, ancestry, or national origin,; or
disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as those terms
are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code;
(10) Other terms and conditions that the director considers
necessary and advisable to carry out the purposes of this section.
(D) The attorney general shall approve the form of the lease
and contract prior to its execution by the director.
(E) The authority granted in this section to the director is
in addition and supplemental to any other authority granted the
director under state law.
Sec. 1751.18. (A)(1) No health insuring corporation shall
cancel or fail to renew the coverage of a subscriber or enrollee
because of any health status-related factor in relation to the
subscriber or enrollee, the subscriber's or enrollee's
requirements for health care services, or for any other reason
designated under rules adopted by the superintendent of insurance.
(2) Unless otherwise required by state or federal law, no
health insuring corporation, or health care facility or provider
through which the health insuring corporation has made
arrangements to provide health care services, shall discriminate
against any individual with regard to enrollment, disenrollment,
or the quality of health care services rendered, on the basis of
the individual's race, color, sex gender, age, religion,; military
status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as
those terms
are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,; or status as
a recipient of medicare or medicaid, or any health status-related
factor in relation to the individual. However, a health insuring
corporation shall not be required to accept a recipient of
medicare or medical assistance, if an agreement has not been
reached on appropriate payment mechanisms between the health
insuring corporation and the governmental agency administering
these programs. Further, except for open enrollment coverage under
sections 3923.58 and 3923.581 of the Revised Code, a health
insuring corporation may reject an applicant for nongroup
enrollment on the basis of any health status-related factor in
relation to the applicant.
(B) A health insuring corporation may cancel or decide not to
renew the coverage of an enrollee if the enrollee has performed an
act or practice that constitutes fraud or intentional
misrepresentation of material fact under the terms of the coverage
and if the cancellation or nonrenewal is not based, either
directly or indirectly, on any health status-related factor in
relation to the enrollee.
(C) An enrollee may appeal any action or decision of a health
insuring corporation taken pursuant to section 2742(b) to (e) of
the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996,"
Pub. L. No. 104-191, 110 Stat. 1955, 42 U.S.C.A. 300gg-42, as
amended. To appeal, the enrollee may submit a written complaint to
the health insuring corporation pursuant to section 1751.19 of the
Revised Code. The enrollee may, within thirty days after receiving
a written response from the health insuring corporation, appeal
the health insuring corporation's action or decision to the
superintendent.
(D) As used in this section, "health status-related factor"
means any of the following:
(2) Medical condition, including both physical and mental
illnesses;
(4) Receipt of health care;
(7) Evidence of insurability, including conditions arising
out of acts of domestic violence;
Sec. 2927.03. (A) No person, whether or not acting under
color of law, shall by force or threat of force willfully injure,
intimidate, or interfere with, or attempt to injure, intimidate,
or interfere with, any of the following:
(1) Any person because of race, color, religion, sex gender,
national origin, or ancestry; or familial status as defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, national origin, military
status as defined in that section, disability as defined in that
section, gender identity, or
ancestry sexual orientation, as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, and
because that person is or has been selling, purchasing, renting,
financing, occupying, contracting, or negotiating for the sale,
purchase, rental, financing, or occupation of any housing
accommodations, or applying for or participating in any service,
organization, or facility relating to the business of selling or
renting housing accommodations;
(2) Any person because that person is or has been doing, or
in order to intimidate that person or any other person or any
class of persons from doing, either of the following:
(a) Participating, without discrimination on account of race,
color, religion, sex gender, national origin, or ancestry; or
familial status as defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,
national origin, military status as defined in that section,
disability
as defined in that section, gender identity, or
ancestry, sexual orientation, as those terms are defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, in any of the activities,
services, organizations, or facilities described in division
(A)(1) of this section;
(b) Affording another person or class of persons opportunity
or protection so to participate.
(3) Any person because that person is or has been, or in
order to discourage that person or any other person from, lawfully
aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without
discrimination on account of race, color, religion, sex gender,
national origin, or ancestry; or familial status as defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, national origin, military
status as defined in that section, disability as defined in that
section,
gender identity, or
ancestry, sexual orientation, as
those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, in
any of the activities, services, organizations, or facilities
described in division (A)(1) of this section, or participating
lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the
opportunity to so participate.
(B) Whoever violates division (A) of this section is guilty
of a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Sec. 3113.36. (A) To qualify for funds under section 3113.35
of the Revised Code, a shelter for victims of domestic violence
shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Be incorporated in this state as a nonprofit corporation;
(2) Have trustees who represent the racial, ethnic, and
socioeconomic diversity of the community to be served, including
at least one person who is or has been a victim of domestic
violence;
(3) Receive at least twenty-five per cent of its funds from
sources other than funds distributed pursuant to section 3113.35
of the Revised Code. These other sources may be public or private,
and may include funds distributed pursuant to section 3113.37 of
the Revised Code, and contributions of goods or services,
including materials, commodities, transportation, office space, or
other types of facilities or personal services.
(4) Provide residential service or facilities for children
when accompanied by a parent, guardian, or custodian who is a
victim of domestic violence and who is receiving temporary
residential service at the shelter;
(5) Require persons employed by or volunteering services to
the shelter to maintain the confidentiality of any information
that would identify individuals served by the shelter.
(B) A shelter for victims of domestic violence does not
qualify for funds if it discriminates in its admissions or
provision of services on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code, race, religion, color, age, marital status, national
origin, or ancestry. A shelter does not qualify for funds in the
second half of any year if its application projects the provision
of residential service and such service has not been provided in
the first half of that year; such a shelter does not qualify for
funds in the following year.
Sec. 3301.53. (A) The state board of education, in
consultation with the director of job and family services, shall
formulate and prescribe by rule adopted under Chapter 119. of the
Revised Code minimum standards to be applied to preschool programs
operated by school district boards of education, county DD boards,
or eligible nonpublic schools. The rules shall include the
following:
(1) Standards ensuring that the preschool program is located
in a safe and convenient facility that accommodates the enrollment
of the program, is of the quality to support the growth and
development of the children according to the program objectives,
and meets the requirements of section 3301.55 of the Revised Code;
(2) Standards ensuring that supervision, discipline, and
programs will be administered according to established objectives
and procedures;
(3) Standards ensuring that preschool staff members and
nonteaching employees are recruited, employed, assigned,
evaluated, and provided inservice education without discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, age,
color, national origin, race, or sex
gender; and that preschool
staff members and nonteaching employees are assigned
responsibilities in accordance with written position descriptions
commensurate with their training and experience;
(4) A requirement that boards of education intending to
establish a preschool program demonstrate a need for a preschool
program prior to establishing the program;
(5) Requirements that children participating in preschool
programs have been immunized to the extent considered appropriate
by the state board to prevent the spread of communicable disease;
(6) Requirements that the parents of preschool children
complete the emergency medical authorization form specified in
section 3313.712 of the Revised Code.
(B) The state board of education in consultation with the
director of job and family services shall ensure that the rules
adopted by the state board under sections 3301.52 to 3301.58 of
the Revised Code are consistent with and meet or exceed the
requirements of Chapter 5104. of the Revised Code with regard to
child day-care centers. The state board and the director of job
and family services shall review all such rules at least once
every five years.
(C) The state board of education, in consultation with the
director of job and family services, shall adopt rules for school
child programs that are consistent with and meet or exceed the
requirements of the rules adopted for school child day-care
centers under Chapter 5104. of the Revised Code.
Sec. 3304.14. The governor shall appoint an administrator of
the rehabilitation services commission to serve at the pleasure of
the governor and shall fix the administrator's compensation. The
administrator shall devote the administrator's entire time to the
duties of the administrator's office, shall hold no other office
or position of trust and profit, and shall engage in no other
business during the administrator's term of office. The governor
may grant the administrator the authority to appoint, remove, and
discipline without regard to sex sexual orientation or gender
identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code, gender, race, creed, color, age, or national origin,
such other professional, administrative, and clerical staff
members as are necessary to carry out the functions and duties of
the commission.
Sec. 3304.50. The Ohio independent living council
established and appointed by the governor under the authority of
section 107.18 of the Revised Code and pursuant to the
"Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992," 106 Stat. 4344, 29
U.S.C.A. 796d, shall appoint an executive director to serve at the
pleasure of the council and shall fix his the executive director's
compensation. The executive director shall not be considered a
public employee for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code.
The council may delegate to the executive director the authority
to appoint, remove, and discipline, without regard to sex sexual
orientation or gender identity as those terms are defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, gender, race, creed, color,
age, or national origin, such other professional, administrative,
and clerical staff members as are necessary to carry out the
functions and duties of the council.
Sec. 3313.481. (A) With the approval of the department of
education, a board of education of a city, exempted village,
local, or joint vocational school district may operate any of its
schools on a schedule other than that required by section 3313.48
of the Revised Code in order to do any of the following:
(1) To provide a flexible school day during which may be held
parent-teacher conferences and reporting periods involving time in
excess of that permitted to be credited toward fulfillment of the
minimum school year under section 3313.48 of the Revised Code;
(2) To establish and maintain a calendar of quarters,
trimesters, or pentamesters;
(3) To provide staggered attendance schedules if it receives
approval to do so from the department of education.
(B) A school district operating a school under this section
shall have such school open for instruction for each pupil
enrolled in that school for at least nine hundred ten hours during
the school year. For purposes of determining whether a school that
is on a staggered attendance schedule is in compliance with this
section in any school year, the department of education may
include days the school was open for instruction with pupils in
attendance for not more than the first seventy days of the ensuing
school year provided such days are not considered as days the
school was open for instruction during such ensuing school year.
The following shall be considered as time during which the schools
are open for instruction for a pupil enrolled in such a school, or
for a pupil enrolled in a school that is not on a staggered
attendance schedule but that operates under this section:
(1) Morning and afternoon recess periods of not more than
fifteen minutes duration per period for a pupil in grades one
through six;
(2) Ten hours during which the pupil would otherwise be in
attendance but when he is not required to attend school in order
to provide time for individualized parent-teacher conferences and
reporting periods;
(3) Ten hours during which the pupil would otherwise be in
attendance but is not required to attend school in order to
provide time for teachers to attend professional meetings;
(4) The number of hours pupils would otherwise be in
attendance but are not required to attend because school is closed
as a result of a public calamity as provided in section 3317.01 of
the Revised Code.
(C) No board of education shall discriminate on the basis of
sex sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, gender, race,
religion, or national origin when assigning pupils to attendance
schedules pursuant to this section.
Sec. 3314.06. The governing authority of each community
school established under this chapter shall adopt admission
procedures that specify the following:
(A) That except as otherwise provided in this section,
admission to the school shall be open to any individual age five
to twenty-two entitled to attend school pursuant to section
3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code in a school district in the
state.
(B)(1) That admission to the school may be limited to
students who have attained a specific grade level or are within a
specific age group; to students that meet a definition of
"at-risk," as defined in the contract; to residents of a specific
geographic area within the district, as defined in the contract;
or to separate groups of autistic students and nondisabled
students, as authorized in section 3314.061 of the Revised Code
and as defined in the contract.
(2) For purposes of division (B)(1) of this section,
"at-risk" students may include those students identified as gifted
students under section 3324.03 of the Revised Code.
(C) Whether enrollment is limited to students who reside in
the district in which the school is located or is open to
residents of other districts, as provided in the policy adopted
pursuant to the contract.
(D)(1) That there will be no discrimination in the admission
of students to the school on the basis of sexual orientation or
gender identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of
the Revised Code, race, creed, color, disability, or sex gender
except that:
(a) The governing authority may establish single-gender
schools for the purpose described in division (G) of this section
provided comparable facilities and learning opportunities are
offered for both boys and girls. Such comparable facilities and
opportunities may be offered for each sex gender at separate
locations.
(b) The governing authority may establish a school that
simultaneously serves a group of students identified as autistic
and a group of students who are not disabled, as authorized in
section 3314.061 of the Revised Code. However, unless the total
capacity established for the school has been filled, no student
with any disability shall be denied admission on the basis of that
disability.
(2) That upon admission of any student with a disability, the
community school will comply with all federal and state laws
regarding the education of students with disabilities.
(E) That the school may not limit admission to students on
the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or
aptitude, or athletic ability, except that a school may limit its
enrollment to students as described in division (B) of this
section.
(F) That the community school will admit the number of
students that does not exceed the capacity of the school's
programs, classes, grade levels, or facilities.
(G) That the purpose of single-gender schools that are
established shall be to take advantage of the academic benefits
some students realize from single-gender instruction and
facilities and to offer students and parents residing in the
district the option of a single-gender education.
(H) That, except as otherwise provided under division (B) of
this section or section 3314.061 of the Revised Code, if the
number of applicants exceeds the capacity restrictions of division
(F) of this section, students shall be admitted by lot from all
those submitting applications, except preference shall be given to
students attending the school the previous year and to students
who reside in the district in which the school is located.
Preference may be given to siblings of students attending the
school the previous year.
Notwithstanding divisions (A) to (H) of this section, in the
event the racial composition of the enrollment of the community
school is violative of a federal desegregation order, the
community school shall take any and all corrective measures to
comply with the desegregation order.
Sec. 3332.09. The state board of career colleges and schools
may limit, suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue or renew a
certificate of registration or program authorization or may impose
a penalty pursuant to section 3332.091 of the Revised Code for any
one or combination of the following causes:
(A) Violation of any provision of sections 3332.01 to 3332.09
of the Revised Code, the board's minimum standards, or any rule
made by the board;
(B) Furnishing of false, misleading, deceptive, altered, or
incomplete information or documents to the board;
(C) The signing of an application or the holding of a
certificate of registration by a person who has pleaded guilty or
has been found guilty of a felony or has pleaded guilty or been
found guilty of a crime involving moral turpitude;
(D) The signing of an application or the holding of a
certificate of registration by a person who is addicted to the use
of any controlled substance, or who is found to be mentally
incompetent;
(E) Violation of any commitment made in an application for a
certificate of registration or program authorization;
(F) Presenting to prospective students, either at the time of
solicitation or enrollment, or through advertising, mail
circulars, or phone solicitation, misleading, deceptive, false, or
fraudulent information relating to any program, employment
opportunity, or opportunities for enrollment in accredited
institutions of higher education after entering or completing
programs offered by the holder of a certificate of registration;
(G) Failure to provide or maintain premises or equipment for
offering programs in a safe and sanitary condition;
(H) Refusal by an agent to display the agent's permit upon
demand of a prospective student or other interested person;
(I) Failure to maintain financial resources adequate for the
satisfactory conduct of programs as presented in the plan of
operation or to retain a sufficient number and qualified staff of
instruction, except that nothing in this chapter requires an
instructor to be licensed by the state board of education or to
hold any type of post-high school degree;
(J) Offering training or programs other than those presented
in the application, except that schools may offer special courses
adapted to the needs of individual students when the special
courses are in the subject field specified in the application;
(K) Discrimination in the acceptance of students upon the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color,
religion, sex gender, or national origin;
(L) Accepting the services of an agent not holding a valid
permit issued under section 3332.10 or 3332.11 of the Revised
Code;
(M) The use of monetary or other valuable consideration by
the school's agents or representatives to induce prospective
students to enroll in the school, or the practice of awarding
monetary or other valuable considerations without board approval
to students in exchange for procuring the enrollment of others;
(N) Failure to provide at the request of the board, any
information, records, or files pertaining to the operation of the
school or recruitment and enrollment of students.
If the board modifies or adopts additional minimum standards
or rules pursuant to section 3332.031 of the Revised Code, all
schools and agents shall have sixty days from the effective date
of the modifications or additional standards or rules to comply
with such modifications or additions.
Sec. 3721.13. (A) The rights of residents of a home shall
include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) The right to a safe and clean living environment pursuant
to the medicare and medicaid programs and applicable state laws
and regulations prescribed by the public health council;
(2) The right to be free from physical, verbal, mental, and
emotional abuse and to be treated at all times with courtesy,
respect, and full recognition of dignity and individuality;
(3) Upon admission and thereafter, the right to adequate and
appropriate medical treatment and nursing care and to other
ancillary services that comprise necessary and appropriate care
consistent with the program for which the resident contracted.
This care shall be provided without regard to considerations such
as sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color,
religion, national origin, age, gender, or source of payment for
care.
(4) The right to have all reasonable requests and inquiries
responded to promptly;
(5) The right to have clothes and bed sheets changed as the
need arises, to ensure the resident's comfort or sanitation;
(6) The right to obtain from the home, upon request, the name
and any specialty of any physician or other person responsible for
the resident's care or for the coordination of care;
(7) The right, upon request, to be assigned, within the
capacity of the home to make the assignment, to the staff
physician of the resident's choice, and the right, in accordance
with the rules and written policies and procedures of the home, to
select as the attending physician a physician who is not on the
staff of the home. If the cost of a physician's services is to be
met under a federally supported program, the physician shall meet
the federal laws and regulations governing such services.
(8) The right to participate in decisions that affect the
resident's life, including the right to communicate with the
physician and employees of the home in planning the resident's
treatment or care and to obtain from the attending physician
complete and current information concerning medical condition,
prognosis, and treatment plan, in terms the resident can
reasonably be expected to understand; the right of access to all
information in the resident's medical record; and the right to
give or withhold informed consent for treatment after the
consequences of that choice have been carefully explained. When
the attending physician finds that it is not medically advisable
to give the information to the resident, the information shall be
made available to the resident's sponsor on the resident's behalf,
if the sponsor has a legal interest or is authorized by the
resident to receive the information. The home is not liable for a
violation of this division if the violation is found to be the
result of an act or omission on the part of a physician selected
by the resident who is not otherwise affiliated with the home.
(9) The right to withhold payment for physician visitation if
the physician did not visit the resident;
(10) The right to confidential treatment of personal and
medical records, and the right to approve or refuse the release of
these records to any individual outside the home, except in case
of transfer to another home, hospital, or health care system, as
required by law or rule, or as required by a third-party payment
contract;
(11) The right to privacy during medical examination or
treatment and in the care of personal or bodily needs;
(12) The right to refuse, without jeopardizing access to
appropriate medical care, to serve as a medical research subject;
(13) The right to be free from physical or chemical
restraints or prolonged isolation except to the minimum extent
necessary to protect the resident from injury to self, others, or
to property and except as authorized in writing by the attending
physician for a specified and limited period of time and
documented in the resident's medical record. Prior to authorizing
the use of a physical or chemical restraint on any resident, the
attending physician shall make a personal examination of the
resident and an individualized determination of the need to use
the restraint on that resident.
Physical or chemical restraints or isolation may be used in
an emergency situation without authorization of the attending
physician only to protect the resident from injury to self or
others. Use of the physical or chemical restraints or isolation
shall not be continued for more than twelve hours after the onset
of the emergency without personal examination and authorization by
the attending physician. The attending physician or a staff
physician may authorize continued use of physical or chemical
restraints for a period not to exceed thirty days, and at the end
of this period and any subsequent period may extend the
authorization for an additional period of not more than thirty
days. The use of physical or chemical restraints shall not be
continued without a personal examination of the resident and the
written authorization of the attending physician stating the
reasons for continuing the restraint.
If physical or chemical restraints are used under this
division, the home shall ensure that the restrained resident
receives a proper diet. In no event shall physical or chemical
restraints or isolation be used for punishment, incentive, or
convenience.
(14) The right to the pharmacist of the resident's choice and
the right to receive pharmaceutical supplies and services at
reasonable prices not exceeding applicable and normally accepted
prices for comparably packaged pharmaceutical supplies and
services within the community;
(15) The right to exercise all civil rights, unless the
resident has been adjudicated incompetent pursuant to Chapter
2111. of the Revised Code and has not been restored to legal
capacity, as well as the right to the cooperation of the home's
administrator in making arrangements for the exercise of the right
to vote;
(16) The right of access to opportunities that enable the
resident, at the resident's own expense or at the expense of a
third-party payer, to achieve the resident's fullest potential,
including educational, vocational, social, recreational, and
habilitation programs;
(17) The right to consume a reasonable amount of alcoholic
beverages at the resident's own expense, unless not medically
advisable as documented in the resident's medical record by the
attending physician or unless contradictory to written admission
policies;
(18) The right to use tobacco at the resident's own expense
under the home's safety rules and under applicable laws and rules
of the state, unless not medically advisable as documented in the
resident's medical record by the attending physician or unless
contradictory to written admission policies;
(19) The right to retire and rise in accordance with the
resident's reasonable requests, if the resident does not disturb
others or the posted meal schedules and upon the home's request
remains in a supervised area, unless not medically advisable as
documented by the attending physician;
(20) The right to observe religious obligations and
participate in religious activities; the right to maintain
individual and cultural identity; and the right to meet with and
participate in activities of social and community groups at the
resident's or the group's initiative;
(21) The right upon reasonable request to private and
unrestricted communications with the resident's family, social
worker, and any other person, unless not medically advisable as
documented in the resident's medical record by the attending
physician, except that communications with public officials or
with the resident's attorney or physician shall not be restricted.
Private and unrestricted communications shall include, but are not
limited to, the right to:
(a) Receive, send, and mail sealed, unopened correspondence;
(b) Reasonable access to a telephone for private
communications;
(c) Private visits at any reasonable hour.
(22) The right to assured privacy for visits by the spouse,
or if both are residents of the same home, the right to share a
room within the capacity of the home, unless not medically
advisable as documented in the resident's medical record by the
attending physician;
(23) The right upon reasonable request to have room doors
closed and to have them not opened without knocking, except in the
case of an emergency or unless not medically advisable as
documented in the resident's medical record by the attending
physician;
(24) The right to retain and use personal clothing and a
reasonable amount of possessions, in a reasonably secure manner,
unless to do so would infringe on the rights of other residents or
would not be medically advisable as documented in the resident's
medical record by the attending physician;
(25) The right to be fully informed, prior to or at the time
of admission and during the resident's stay, in writing, of the
basic rate charged by the home, of services available in the home,
and of any additional charges related to such services, including
charges for services not covered under the medicare or medicaid
program. The basic rate shall not be changed unless thirty days'
notice is given to the resident or, if the resident is unable to
understand this information, to the resident's sponsor.
(26) The right of the resident and person paying for the care
to examine and receive a bill at least monthly for the resident's
care from the home that itemizes charges not included in the basic
rates;
(27)(a) The right to be free from financial exploitation;
(b) The right to manage the resident's own personal financial
affairs, or, if the resident has delegated this responsibility in
writing to the home, to receive upon written request at least a
quarterly accounting statement of financial transactions made on
the resident's behalf. The statement shall include:
(i) A complete record of all funds, personal property, or
possessions of a resident from any source whatsoever, that have
been deposited for safekeeping with the home for use by the
resident or the resident's sponsor;
(ii) A listing of all deposits and withdrawals transacted,
which shall be substantiated by receipts which shall be available
for inspection and copying by the resident or sponsor.
(28) The right of the resident to be allowed unrestricted
access to the resident's property on deposit at reasonable hours,
unless requests for access to property on deposit are so
persistent, continuous, and unreasonable that they constitute a
nuisance;
(29) The right to receive reasonable notice before the
resident's room or roommate is changed, including an explanation
of the reason for either change.
(30) The right not to be transferred or discharged from the
home unless the transfer is necessary because of one of the
following:
(a) The welfare and needs of the resident cannot be met in
the home.
(b) The resident's health has improved sufficiently so that
the resident no longer needs the services provided by the home.
(c) The safety of individuals in the home is endangered.
(d) The health of individuals in the home would otherwise be
endangered.
(e) The resident has failed, after reasonable and appropriate
notice, to pay or to have the medicare or medicaid program pay on
the resident's behalf, for the care provided by the home. A
resident shall not be considered to have failed to have the
resident's care paid for if the resident has applied for medicaid,
unless both of the following are the case:
(i) The resident's application, or a substantially similar
previous application, has been denied by the county department of
job and family services.
(ii) If the resident appealed the denial pursuant to division
(C) of section 5101.35 of the Revised Code, the director of job
and family services has upheld the denial.
(f) The home's license has been revoked, the home is being
closed pursuant to section 3721.08, sections 5111.35 to 5111.62,
or section 5155.31 of the Revised Code, or the home otherwise
ceases to operate.
(g) The resident is a recipient of medicaid, and the home's
participation in the medicaid program is involuntarily terminated
or denied.
(h) The resident is a beneficiary under the medicare program,
and the home's participation in the medicare program is
involuntarily terminated or denied.
(31) The right to voice grievances and recommend changes in
policies and services to the home's staff, to employees of the
department of health, or to other persons not associated with the
operation of the home, of the resident's choice, free from
restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.
This right includes access to a residents' rights advocate, and
the right to be a member of, to be active in, and to associate
with persons who are active in organizations of relatives and
friends of nursing home residents and other organizations engaged
in assisting residents.
(32) The right to have any significant change in the
resident's health status reported to the resident's sponsor. As
soon as such a change is known to the home's staff, the home shall
make a reasonable effort to notify the sponsor within twelve
hours.
(B) A sponsor may act on a resident's behalf to assure that
the home does not deny the residents' rights under sections
3721.10 to 3721.17 of the Revised Code.
(C) Any attempted waiver of the rights listed in division (A)
of this section is void.
Sec. 3905.55. (A) Except as provided in division (B) of this
section, an agent may charge a consumer a fee if all of the
following conditions are met:
(1) The fee is disclosed to the consumer in a manner that
separately identifies the fee and the premium.
(2) The fee is not calculated as a percentage of the premium.
(3) The fee is not refunded, forgiven, waived, offset, or
reduced by any commission earned or received for any policy or
coverage sold.
(4) The amount of the fee, and the consumer's obligation to
pay the fee, are not conditioned upon the occurrence of a future
event or condition, such as the purchase, cancellation, lapse,
declination, or nonrenewal of insurance.
(5) The agent discloses to the consumer that the fee is being
charged by the agent and not by the insurance company, that
neither state law nor the insurance company requires the agent to
charge the fee, and that the fee is not refundable.
(6) The consumer consents to the fee.
(7) The agent, in charging the fee, does not discriminate on
the basis of race, sex gender, national origin, religion,
disability, health status, age, marital status,; disability,
military status, gender identity, or sexual orientation, as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,; or
geographic location, and does not unfairly discriminate between
persons of essentially the same class and of essentially the same
hazard or expectation of life.
(B) A fee may not be charged for taking or submitting an
initial application for coverage with any one insurer or different
programs with the same insurer, or processing a change to an
existing policy, a cancellation, a claim, or a renewal, in
connection with any of the following personal lines policies:
(1) Private passenger automobile;
(2) Homeowners, including coverage for tenants or condominium
owners, owner-occupied fire or dwelling property coverage,
personal umbrella liability, or any other personal lines-related
coverage whether sold as a separate policy or as an endorsement to
another personal lines policy;
(3) Individual life insurance;
(4) Individual sickness or accident insurance;
(5) Disability income policies;
(6) Credit insurance products.
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
agent may charge a fee for agent services in connection with a
policy issued on a no-commission basis, if the agent provides the
consumer with prior disclosure of the fee and of the services to
be provided.
(D) In the event of a dispute between an agent and a consumer
regarding any disclosure required by this section, the agent has
the burden of proving that the disclosure was made.
(E)(1) No person shall fail to comply with this section.
(2) Whoever violates division (E)(1) of this section is
deemed to have engaged in an unfair and deceptive act or practice
in the business of insurance under sections 3901.19 to 3901.26 of
the Revised Code.
(F) This section does not apply with respect to any expense
fee charged by a surety bail bond agent to cover the costs
incurred by the surety bail bond agent in executing the bail bond.
Sec. 4111.17. (A) No employer, including the state and
political subdivisions thereof, shall discriminate in the payment
of wages on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as
those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,
race, color, religion, sex gender, age, national origin, or
ancestry by paying wages to any employee at a rate less than the
rate at which the employer pays wages to another employee for
equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill,
effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar
conditions.
(B) Nothing in this section prohibits an employer from paying
wages to one employee at a rate different from that at which the
employer pays another employee for the performance of equal work
under similar conditions on jobs requiring equal skill, effort,
and responsibility, when the payment is made pursuant to any of
the following:
(3) A system which measures earnings by the quantity or
quality of production;
(4) A wage rate differential determined by any factor other
than sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color,
religion, sex gender, age, national origin, or ancestry.
(C) No employer shall reduce the wage rate of any employee in
order to comply with this section.
(D) The director of commerce shall carry out, administer, and
enforce this section. Any employee discriminated against in
violation of this section may sue in any court of competent
jurisdiction to recover two times the amount of the difference
between the wages actually received and the wages received by a
person performing equal work for the employer, from the date of
the commencement of the violation, and for costs, including
attorney fees. The director may take an assignment of any such
wage claim in trust for such employee and sue in the employee's
behalf. In any civil action under this section, two or more
employees of the same employer may join as co-plaintiffs in one
action. The director may sue in one action for claims assigned to
the director by two or more employees of the same employer. No
agreement to work for a discriminatory wage constitutes a defense
for any civil or criminal action to enforce this section. No
employer shall discriminate against any employee because such
employee makes a complaint or institutes, or testifies in, any
proceeding under this section.
(E) Any action arising under this section shall be initiated
within one year after the date of violation.
Sec. 4112.01. (A) As used in this chapter:
(1) "Person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships,
associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives,
trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, and other organized
groups of persons. "Person" also includes, but is not limited to,
any owner, lessor, assignor, builder, manager, broker,
salesperson, appraiser, agent, employee, lending institution, and
the state and all political subdivisions, authorities, agencies,
boards, and commissions of the state.
(2) "Employer" includes the state, any political subdivision
of the state, any person employing four or more persons within the
state, and any person acting directly or indirectly in the
interest of an employer, except that for purposes of
discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity,
"employer" includes the state, any political subdivision of the
state, any person employing fifteen or more persons within the
state, and any person acting directly or indirectly in the
interest of an employer.
(3) "Employee" means an individual employed by any employer
but does not include any individual employed in the domestic
service of any person.
(4) "Labor organization" includes any organization that
exists, in whole or in part, for the purpose of collective
bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances,
terms or conditions of employment, or other mutual aid or
protection in relation to employment.
(5) "Employment agency" includes any person regularly
undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure
opportunities to work or to procure, recruit, refer, or place
employees.
(6) "Commission" means the Ohio civil rights commission
created by section 4112.03 of the Revised Code.
(7) "Discriminate" includes segregate or separate.
(8) "Unlawful discriminatory practice" means any act
prohibited by section 4112.02, 4112.021, or 4112.022 of the
Revised Code.
(9) "Place of public accommodation" means any inn,
restaurant, eating house, barbershop, public conveyance by air,
land, or water, theater, store, other place for the sale of
merchandise, or any other place of public accommodation or
amusement of which the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or
privileges are available to the public.
(10) "Housing accommodations" includes any building or
structure, or portion of a building or structure, that is used or
occupied or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or
occupied as the home residence, dwelling, dwelling unit, or
sleeping place of one or more individuals, groups, or families
whether or not living independently of each other; and any vacant
land offered for sale or lease. "Housing accommodations" also
includes any housing accommodations held or offered for sale or
rent by a real estate broker, salesperson, or agent, by any other
person pursuant to authorization of the owner, by the owner, or by
the owner's legal representative.
(11) "Restrictive covenant" means any specification limiting
the transfer, rental, lease, or other use of any housing
accommodations because of race, color, religion, sex gender,
military status, familial status, national origin, disability, or
ancestry, or any limitation based upon affiliation with or
approval by any person, directly or indirectly, employing race,
color, religion,
sex gender, military status, familial status,
national origin, disability, or ancestry as a condition of
affiliation or approval.
(12) "Burial lot" means any lot for the burial of deceased
persons within any public burial ground or cemetery, including,
but not limited to, cemeteries owned and operated by municipal
corporations, townships, or companies or associations incorporated
for cemetery purposes.
(13) "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major life activities, including
the functions of caring for one's self, performing manual tasks,
walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and
working; a record of a physical or mental impairment; or being
regarded as having a physical or mental impairment.
(14) Except as otherwise provided in section 4112.021 of the
Revised Code, "age" means at least forty years old.
(15) "Familial status" means either of the following:
(a) One or more individuals who are under eighteen years of
age and who are domiciled with a parent or guardian having legal
custody of the individual or domiciled, with the written
permission of the parent or guardian having legal custody, with a
designee of the parent or guardian;
(b) Any person who is pregnant or in the process of securing
legal custody of any individual who is under eighteen years of
age.
(16)(a) Except as provided in division (A)(16)(b) of this
section, "physical or mental impairment" includes any of the
following:
(i) Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic
disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the
following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special
sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs;
cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genito-urinary; hemic and
lymphatic; skin; and endocrine;
(ii) Any mental or psychological disorder, including, but not
limited to, mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional
or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities;
(iii) Diseases and conditions, including, but not limited to,
orthopedic, visual, speech, and hearing impairments, cerebral
palsy, autism, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis,
cancer, heart disease, diabetes, human immunodeficiency virus
infection, mental retardation, emotional illness, drug addiction,
and alcoholism.
(b) "Physical or mental impairment" does not include any of
the following:
(i) Homosexuality and bisexuality;
(ii) Transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism,
voyeurism, gender identity disorders not resulting from physical
impairments, or other sexual behavior disorders;
(iii) Compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania;
(iv) Psychoactive substance use disorders resulting from the
current illegal use of a controlled substance or the current use
of alcoholic beverages.
(17) "Dwelling unit" means a single unit of residence for a
family of one or more persons.
(18) "Common use areas" means rooms, spaces, or elements
inside or outside a building that are made available for the use
of residents of the building or their guests, and includes, but is
not limited to, hallways, lounges, lobbies, laundry rooms, refuse
rooms, mail rooms, recreational areas, and passageways among and
between buildings.
(19) "Public use areas" means interior or exterior rooms or
spaces of a privately or publicly owned building that are made
available to the general public.
(20) "Controlled substance" has the same meaning as in
section 3719.01 of the Revised Code.
(21) "Disabled tenant" means a tenant or prospective tenant
who is a person with a disability.
(22) "Military status" means a person's status in "service in
the uniformed services" as defined in section 5923.05 of the
Revised Code.
(23) "Aggrieved person" includes both of the following:
(a) Any person who claims to have been injured by any
unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (H) of
section 4112.02 of the Revised Code;
(b) Any person who believes that the person will be injured
by, any unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (H)
of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code that is about to occur.
(24) "Sexual orientation" means actual or perceived,
heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
(25) "Gender identity" means the gender-related identity,
appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics
of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's
designated gender at birth.
(B) For the purposes of divisions (A) to (F) of section
4112.02 of the Revised Code, the terms "because of sex gender" and
"on the basis of sex gender" include, but are not limited to,
because of or on the basis of pregnancy, any illness arising out
of and occurring during the course of a pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical conditions. Women affected by pregnancy,
childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the
same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of
benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so
affected but similar in their ability or inability to work, and
nothing in division (B) of section 4111.17 of the Revised Code
shall be interpreted to permit otherwise. This division shall not
be construed to require an employer to pay for health insurance
benefits for abortion, except where the life of the mother would
be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or except where
medical complications have arisen from the abortion, provided that
nothing in this division precludes an employer from providing
abortion benefits or otherwise affects bargaining agreements in
regard to abortion.
Sec. 4112.02. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory
practice:
(A) For any employer, because of the race, color, religion,
sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
national origin, disability, age, or ancestry of any person, to
discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to
discriminate against that person with respect to hire, tenure,
terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter
directly or indirectly related to employment.
(B) For an employment agency or personnel placement service,
because of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, national origin, disability,
age, or ancestry, to do any of the following:
(1) Refuse or fail to accept, register, classify properly, or
refer for employment, or otherwise discriminate against any
person;
(2) Comply with a request from an employer for referral of
applicants for employment if the request directly or indirectly
indicates that the employer fails to comply with the provisions of
sections 4112.01 to 4112.07 of the Revised Code.
(C) For any labor organization to do any of the following:
(1) Limit or classify its membership on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry;
(2) Discriminate against, limit the employment opportunities
of, or otherwise adversely affect the employment status, wages,
hours, or employment conditions of any person as an employee
because of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, national origin, disability,
age, or ancestry.
(D) For any employer, labor organization, or joint
labor-management committee controlling apprentice training
programs to discriminate against any person because of race,
color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, national origin, disability, or ancestry in
admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide
apprentice training.
(E) Except where based on a bona fide occupational
qualification certified in advance by the commission, for any
employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, or labor
organization, prior to employment or admission to membership, to
do any of the following:
(1) Elicit or attempt to elicit any information concerning
the race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, military status, national origin, disability, age, or
ancestry of an applicant for employment or membership;
(2) Make or keep a record of the race, color, religion, sex
gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
national origin, disability, age, or ancestry of any applicant for
employment or membership;
(3) Use any form of application for employment, or personnel
or membership blank, seeking to elicit information regarding race,
color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry;
but an employer holding a contract containing a nondiscrimination
clause with the government of the United States, or any department
or agency of that government, may require an employee or applicant
for employment to furnish documentary proof of United States
citizenship and may retain that proof in the employer's personnel
records and may use photographic or fingerprint identification for
security purposes;
(4) Print or publish or cause to be printed or published any
notice or advertisement relating to employment or membership
indicating any preference, limitation, specification, or
discrimination, based upon race, color, religion, sex gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, national
origin, disability, age, or ancestry;
(5) Announce or follow a policy of denying or limiting,
through a quota system or otherwise, employment or membership
opportunities of any group because of the race, color, religion,
sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
national origin, disability, age, or ancestry of that group;
(6) Utilize in the recruitment or hiring of persons any
employment agency, personnel placement service, training school or
center, labor organization, or any other employee-referring source
known to discriminate against persons because of their race,
color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry.
(F) For any person seeking employment to publish or cause to
be published any advertisement that specifies or in any manner
indicates that person's race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, national origin,
disability, age, or ancestry, or expresses a limitation or
preference as to the race, color, religion, sex gender,
sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, national origin,
disability, age, or ancestry of any prospective employer.
(G) For any proprietor or any employee, keeper, or manager of
a place of public accommodation to deny to any person, except for
reasons applicable alike to all persons regardless of race, color,
religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry,
the full enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,
or privileges of the place of public accommodation.
(H) For any person to do any of the following:
(1) Refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease,
or finance housing accommodations, refuse to negotiate for the
sale or rental of housing accommodations, or otherwise deny or
make unavailable housing accommodations because of race, color,
religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, familial status, ancestry, disability, or
national origin;
(2) Represent to any person that housing accommodations are
not available for inspection, sale, or rental, when in fact they
are available, because of race, color, religion, sex gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, familial
status, ancestry, disability, or national origin;
(3) Discriminate against any person in the making or
purchasing of loans or the provision of other financial assistance
for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, or
maintenance of housing accommodations, or any person in the making
or purchasing of loans or the provision of other financial
assistance that is secured by residential real estate, because of
race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, military status, familial status, ancestry, disability,
or national origin or because of the racial composition of the
neighborhood in which the housing accommodations are located,
provided that the person, whether an individual, corporation, or
association of any type, lends money as one of the principal
aspects or incident to the person's principal business and not
only as a part of the purchase price of an owner-occupied
residence the person is selling nor merely casually or
occasionally to a relative or friend;
(4) Discriminate against any person in the terms or
conditions of selling, transferring, assigning, renting, leasing,
or subleasing any housing accommodations or in furnishing
facilities, services, or privileges in connection with the
ownership, occupancy, or use of any housing accommodations,
including the sale of fire, extended coverage, or homeowners
insurance, because of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, familial status,
ancestry, disability, or national origin or because of the racial
composition of the neighborhood in which the housing
accommodations are located;
(5) Discriminate against any person in the terms or
conditions of any loan of money, whether or not secured by
mortgage or otherwise, for the acquisition, construction,
rehabilitation, repair, or maintenance of housing accommodations
because of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, familial status, ancestry,
disability, or national origin or because of the racial
composition of the neighborhood in which the housing
accommodations are located;
(6) Refuse to consider without prejudice the combined income
of both husband and wife for the purpose of extending mortgage
credit to a married couple or either member of a married couple;
(7) Print, publish, or circulate any statement or
advertisement, or make or cause to be made any statement or
advertisement, relating to the sale, transfer, assignment, rental,
lease, sublease, or acquisition of any housing accommodations, or
relating to the loan of money, whether or not secured by mortgage
or otherwise, for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation,
repair, or maintenance of housing accommodations, that indicates
any preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based
upon race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, military status, familial status, ancestry, disability,
or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference,
limitation, specification, or discrimination;
(8) Except as otherwise provided in division (H)(8) or (17)
of this section, make any inquiry, elicit any information, make or
keep any record, or use any form of application containing
questions or entries concerning race, color, religion, sex gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, familial
status, ancestry, disability, or national origin in connection
with the sale or lease of any housing accommodations or the loan
of any money, whether or not secured by mortgage or otherwise, for
the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, or
maintenance of housing accommodations. Any person may make
inquiries, and make and keep records, concerning race, color,
religion, sex gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, familial status, ancestry, disability, or
national origin for the purpose of monitoring compliance with this
chapter.
(9) Include in any transfer, rental, or lease of housing
accommodations any restrictive covenant, or honor or exercise, or
attempt to honor or exercise, any restrictive covenant;
(10) Induce or solicit, or attempt to induce or solicit, a
housing accommodations listing, sale, or transaction by
representing that a change has occurred or may occur with respect
to the racial, religious, sexual gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, familial status, or ethnic
composition of the block, neighborhood, or other area in which the
housing accommodations are located, or induce or solicit, or
attempt to induce or solicit, a housing accommodations listing,
sale, or transaction by representing that the presence or
anticipated presence of persons of any race, color, religion, sex
gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
familial status, ancestry, disability, or national origin, in the
block, neighborhood, or other area will or may have results
including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) The lowering of property values;
(b) A change in the racial, religious, sexual gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, familial status, or
ethnic composition of the block, neighborhood, or other area;
(c) An increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the
block, neighborhood, or other area;
(d) A decline in the quality of the schools serving the
block, neighborhood, or other area.
(11) Deny any person access to or membership or participation
in any multiple-listing service, real estate brokers'
organization, or other service, organization, or facility relating
to the business of selling or renting housing accommodations, or
discriminate against any person in the terms or conditions of that
access, membership, or participation, on account of race, color,
religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, familial status, national origin, disability, or
ancestry;
(12) Coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any
person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of that
person's having exercised or enjoyed or having aided or encouraged
any other person in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right
granted or protected by division (H) of this section;
(13) Discourage or attempt to discourage the purchase by a
prospective purchaser of housing accommodations, by representing
that any block, neighborhood, or other area has undergone or might
undergo a change with respect to its religious, racial, sexual
gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
familial status, or ethnic composition;
(14) Refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease,
or finance, or otherwise deny or withhold, a burial lot from any
person because of the race, color, sex gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, familial status, age, ancestry,
disability, or national origin of any prospective owner or user of
the lot;
(15) Discriminate in the sale or rental of, or otherwise make
unavailable or deny, housing accommodations to any buyer or renter
because of a disability of any of the following:
(b) A person residing in or intending to reside in the
housing accommodations after they are sold, rented, or made
available;
(c) Any individual associated with the person described in
division (H)(15)(b) of this section.
(16) Discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of
the sale or rental of housing accommodations to any person or in
the provision of services or facilities to any person in
connection with the housing accommodations because of a disability
of any of the following:
(b) A person residing in or intending to reside in the
housing accommodations after they are sold, rented, or made
available;
(c) Any individual associated with the person described in
division (H)(16)(b) of this section.
(17) Except as otherwise provided in division (H)(17) of this
section, make an inquiry to determine whether an applicant for the
sale or rental of housing accommodations, a person residing in or
intending to reside in the housing accommodations after they are
sold, rented, or made available, or any individual associated with
that person has a disability, or make an inquiry to determine the
nature or severity of a disability of the applicant or such a
person or individual. The following inquiries may be made of all
applicants for the sale or rental of housing accommodations,
regardless of whether they have disabilities:
(a) An inquiry into an applicant's ability to meet the
requirements of ownership or tenancy;
(b) An inquiry to determine whether an applicant is qualified
for housing accommodations available only to persons with
disabilities or persons with a particular type of disability;
(c) An inquiry to determine whether an applicant is qualified
for a priority available to persons with disabilities or persons
with a particular type of disability;
(d) An inquiry to determine whether an applicant currently
uses a controlled substance in violation of section 2925.11 of the
Revised Code or a substantively comparable municipal ordinance;
(e) An inquiry to determine whether an applicant at any time
has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any offense, an element
of which is the illegal sale, offer to sell, cultivation,
manufacture, other production, shipment, transportation, delivery,
or other distribution of a controlled substance.
(18)(a) Refuse to permit, at the expense of a person with a
disability, reasonable modifications of existing housing
accommodations that are occupied or to be occupied by the person
with a disability, if the modifications may be necessary to afford
the person with a disability full enjoyment of the housing
accommodations. This division does not preclude a landlord of
housing accommodations that are rented or to be rented to a
disabled tenant from conditioning permission for a proposed
modification upon the disabled tenant's doing one or more of the
following:
(i) Providing a reasonable description of the proposed
modification and reasonable assurances that the proposed
modification will be made in a workerlike manner and that any
required building permits will be obtained prior to the
commencement of the proposed modification;
(ii) Agreeing to restore at the end of the tenancy the
interior of the housing accommodations to the condition they were
in prior to the proposed modification, but subject to reasonable
wear and tear during the period of occupancy, if it is reasonable
for the landlord to condition permission for the proposed
modification upon the agreement;
(iii) Paying into an interest-bearing escrow account that is
in the landlord's name, over a reasonable period of time, a
reasonable amount of money not to exceed the projected costs at
the end of the tenancy of the restoration of the interior of the
housing accommodations to the condition they were in prior to the
proposed modification, but subject to reasonable wear and tear
during the period of occupancy, if the landlord finds the account
reasonably necessary to ensure the availability of funds for the
restoration work. The interest earned in connection with an escrow
account described in this division shall accrue to the benefit of
the disabled tenant who makes payments into the account.
(b) A landlord shall not condition permission for a proposed
modification upon a disabled tenant's payment of a security
deposit that exceeds the customarily required security deposit of
all tenants of the particular housing accommodations.
(19) Refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules,
policies, practices, or services when necessary to afford a person
with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling
unit, including associated public and common use areas;
(20) Fail to comply with the standards and rules adopted
under division (A) of section 3781.111 of the Revised Code;
(21) Discriminate against any person in the selling,
brokering, or appraising of real property because of race, color,
religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, familial status, ancestry, disability, or
national origin;
(22) Fail to design and construct covered multifamily
dwellings for first occupancy on or after June 30, 1992, in
accordance with the following conditions:
(a) The dwellings shall have at least one building entrance
on an accessible route, unless it is impractical to do so because
of the terrain or unusual characteristics of the site.
(b) With respect to dwellings that have a building entrance
on an accessible route, all of the following apply:
(i) The public use areas and common use areas of the
dwellings shall be readily accessible to and usable by persons
with a disability.
(ii) All the doors designed to allow passage into and within
all premises shall be sufficiently wide to allow passage by
persons with a disability who are in wheelchairs.
(iii) All premises within covered multifamily dwelling units
shall contain an accessible route into and through the dwelling;
all light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other
environmental controls within such units shall be in accessible
locations; the bathroom walls within such units shall contain
reinforcements to allow later installation of grab bars; and the
kitchens and bathrooms within such units shall be designed and
constructed in a manner that enables an individual in a wheelchair
to maneuver about such rooms.
For purposes of division (H)(22) of this section, "covered
multifamily dwellings" means buildings consisting of four or more
units if such buildings have one or more elevators and ground
floor units in other buildings consisting of four or more units.
(I) For any person to discriminate in any manner against any
other person because that person has opposed any unlawful
discriminatory practice defined in this section or because that
person has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in
any manner in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under
sections 4112.01 to 4112.07 of the Revised Code.
(J) For any person to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce
the doing of any act declared by this section to be an unlawful
discriminatory practice, to obstruct or prevent any person from
complying with this chapter or any order issued under it, or to
attempt directly or indirectly to commit any act declared by this
section to be an unlawful discriminatory practice.
(K)(1) Nothing in division (H) of this section shall bar any
religious or denominational institution or organization, or any
nonprofit charitable or educational organization that is operated,
supervised, or controlled by or in connection with a religious
organization, from limiting the sale, rental, or occupancy of
housing accommodations that it owns or operates for other than a
commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving
preference in the sale, rental, or occupancy of such housing
accommodations to persons of the same religion, unless membership
in the religion is restricted on account of race, color, or
national origin.
(2) Nothing in division (H) of this section shall bar any
bona fide private or fraternal organization that, incidental to
its primary purpose, owns or operates lodgings for other than a
commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of the
lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.
(3) Nothing in division (H) of this section limits the
applicability of any reasonable local, state, or federal
restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted
to occupy housing accommodations. Nothing in that division
prohibits the owners or managers of housing accommodations from
implementing reasonable occupancy standards based on the number
and size of sleeping areas or bedrooms and the overall size of a
dwelling unit, provided that the standards are not implemented to
circumvent the purposes of this chapter and are formulated,
implemented, and interpreted in a manner consistent with this
chapter and any applicable local, state, or federal restrictions
regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy
housing accommodations.
(4) Nothing in division (H) of this section requires that
housing accommodations be made available to an individual whose
tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety
of other individuals or whose tenancy would result in substantial
physical damage to the property of others.
(5) Nothing in division (H) of this section pertaining to
discrimination on the basis of familial status shall be construed
to apply to any of the following:
(a) Housing accommodations provided under any state or
federal program that have been determined under the "Fair Housing
Amendments Act of 1988," 102 Stat. 1623, 42 U.S.C.A. 3607, as
amended, to be specifically designed and operated to assist
elderly persons;
(b) Housing accommodations intended for and solely occupied
by persons who are sixty-two years of age or older;
(c) Housing accommodations intended and operated for
occupancy by at least one person who is fifty-five years of age or
older per unit, as determined under the "Fair Housing Amendments
Act of 1988," 102 Stat. 1623, 42 U.S.C.A. 3607, as amended.
(L) Nothing in divisions (A) to (E) of this section shall be
construed to require a person with a disability to be employed or
trained under circumstances that would significantly increase the
occupational hazards affecting either the person with a
disability, other employees, the general public, or the facilities
in which the work is to be performed, or to require the employment
or training of a person with a disability in a job that requires
the person with a disability routinely to undertake any task, the
performance of which is substantially and inherently impaired by
the person's disability.
(M) Nothing in divisions (H)(1) to (18) of this section shall
be construed to require any person selling or renting property to
modify the property in any way or to exercise a higher degree of
care for a person with a disability, to relieve any person with a
disability of any obligation generally imposed on all persons
regardless of disability in a written lease, rental agreement, or
contract of purchase or sale, or to forbid distinctions based on
the inability to fulfill the terms and conditions, including
financial obligations, of the lease, agreement, or contract.
(N) An aggrieved individual may enforce the individual's
rights relative to discrimination on the basis of age as provided
for in this section by instituting a civil action, within one
hundred eighty days after the alleged unlawful discriminatory
practice occurred, in any court with jurisdiction for any legal or
equitable relief that will effectuate the individual's rights.
A person who files a civil action under this division is
barred, with respect to the practices complained of, from
instituting a civil action under section 4112.14 of the Revised
Code and from filing a charge with the commission under section
4112.05 of the Revised Code.
(O) With regard to age, it shall not be an unlawful
discriminatory practice and it shall not constitute a violation of
division (A) of section 4112.14 of the Revised Code for any
employer, employment agency, joint labor-management committee
controlling apprenticeship training programs, or labor
organization to do any of the following:
(1) Establish bona fide employment qualifications reasonably
related to the particular business or occupation that may include
standards for skill, aptitude, physical capability, intelligence,
education, maturation, and experience;
(2) Observe the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any
bona fide employee benefit plan, including, but not limited to, a
retirement, pension, or insurance plan, that is not a subterfuge
to evade the purposes of this section. However, no such employee
benefit plan shall excuse the failure to hire any individual, and
no such seniority system or employee benefit plan shall require or
permit the involuntary retirement of any individual, because of
the individual's age except as provided for in the "Age
Discrimination in Employment Act Amendment of 1978," 92 Stat. 189,
29 U.S.C.A. 623, as amended by the "Age Discrimination in
Employment Act Amendments of 1986," 100 Stat. 3342, 29 U.S.C.A.
623, as amended.
(3) Retire an employee who has attained sixty-five years of
age who, for the two-year period immediately before retirement, is
employed in a bona fide executive or a high policymaking position,
if the employee is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual
retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or
deferred compensation plan, or any combination of those plans, of
the employer of the employee, which equals, in the aggregate, at
least forty-four thousand dollars, in accordance with the
conditions of the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendment
of 1978," 92 Stat. 189, 29 U.S.C.A. 631, as amended by the "Age
Discrimination in Employment Act Amendments of 1986," 100 Stat.
3342, 29 U.S.C.A. 631, as amended;
(4) Observe the terms of any bona fide apprenticeship program
if the program is registered with the Ohio apprenticeship council
pursuant to sections 4139.01 to 4139.06 of the Revised Code and is
approved by the federal committee on apprenticeship of the United
States department of labor.
(P) Nothing in this chapter prohibiting age discrimination
and nothing in division (A) of section 4112.14 of the Revised Code
shall be construed to prohibit the following:
(1) The designation of uniform age the attainment of which is
necessary for public employees to receive pension or other
retirement benefits pursuant to Chapter 145., 742., 3307., 3309.,
or 5505. of the Revised Code;
(2) The mandatory retirement of uniformed patrol officers of
the state highway patrol as provided in section 5505.16 of the
Revised Code;
(3) The maximum age requirements for appointment as a patrol
officer in the state highway patrol established by section 5503.01
of the Revised Code;
(4) The maximum age requirements established for original
appointment to a police department or fire department in sections
124.41 and 124.42 of the Revised Code;
(5) Any maximum age not in conflict with federal law that may
be established by a municipal charter, municipal ordinance, or
resolution of a board of township trustees for original
appointment as a police officer or firefighter;
(6) Any mandatory retirement provision not in conflict with
federal law of a municipal charter, municipal ordinance, or
resolution of a board of township trustees pertaining to police
officers and firefighters;
(7) Until January 1, 1994, the mandatory retirement of any
employee who has attained seventy years of age and who is serving
under a contract of unlimited tenure, or similar arrangement
providing for unlimited tenure, at an institution of higher
education as defined in the "Education Amendments of 1980," 94
Stat. 1503, 20 U.S.C.A. 1141(a).
(Q)(1)(a) Except as provided in division (Q)(1)(b) of this
section, for purposes of divisions (A) to (E) of this section, a
disability does not include any physiological disorder or
condition, mental or psychological disorder, or disease or
condition caused by an illegal use of any controlled substance by
an employee, applicant, or other person, if an employer,
employment agency, personnel placement service, labor
organization, or joint labor-management committee acts on the
basis of that illegal use.
(b) Division (Q)(1)(a) of this section does not apply to an
employee, applicant, or other person who satisfies any of the
following:
(i) The employee, applicant, or other person has successfully
completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and no longer
is engaging in the illegal use of any controlled substance, or the
employee, applicant, or other person otherwise successfully has
been rehabilitated and no longer is engaging in that illegal use.
(ii) The employee, applicant, or other person is
participating in a supervised drug rehabilitation program and no
longer is engaging in the illegal use of any controlled substance.
(iii) The employee, applicant, or other person is erroneously
regarded as engaging in the illegal use of any controlled
substance, but the employee, applicant, or other person is not
engaging in that illegal use.
(2) Divisions (A) to (E) of this section do not prohibit an
employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, labor
organization, or joint labor-management committee from doing any
of the following:
(a) Adopting or administering reasonable policies or
procedures, including, but not limited to, testing for the illegal
use of any controlled substance, that are designed to ensure that
an individual described in division (Q)(1)(b)(i) or (ii) of this
section no longer is engaging in the illegal use of any controlled
substance;
(b) Prohibiting the illegal use of controlled substances and
the use of alcohol at the workplace by all employees;
(c) Requiring that employees not be under the influence of
alcohol or not be engaged in the illegal use of any controlled
substance at the workplace;
(d) Requiring that employees behave in conformance with the
requirements established under "The Drug-Free Workplace Act of
1988," 102 Stat. 4304, 41 U.S.C.A. 701, as amended;
(e) Holding an employee who engages in the illegal use of any
controlled substance or who is an alcoholic to the same
qualification standards for employment or job performance, and the
same behavior, to which the employer, employment agency, personnel
placement service, labor organization, or joint labor-management
committee holds other employees, even if any unsatisfactory
performance or behavior is related to an employee's illegal use of
a controlled substance or alcoholism;
(f) Exercising other authority recognized in the "Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990," 104 Stat. 327, 42 U.S.C.A. 12101,
as amended, including, but not limited to, requiring employees to
comply with any applicable federal standards.
(3) For purposes of this chapter, a test to determine the
illegal use of any controlled substance does not include a medical
examination.
(4) Division (Q) of this section does not encourage,
prohibit, or authorize, and shall not be construed as encouraging,
prohibiting, or authorizing, the conduct of testing for the
illegal use of any controlled substance by employees, applicants,
or other persons, or the making of employment decisions based on
the results of that type of testing.
(R)(1) Nothing in this section shall prohibit any religious
association, corporation, or society that is not organized for
private profit, or any institution organized for educational
purposes that is operated, supervised, or controlled by such a
religious association, corporation, or society, from doing either
of the following:
(a) Limiting admission to or giving preference to persons of
the same religion or denomination;
(b) In matters related to sexual orientation or gender
identity, taking any action with respect to education, employment,
housing and real property, or use of facilities.
(2) Division (R)(1) of this section shall not apply to
secular business activities regularly carried on in which the
religious association, corporation, or society engages if the
conduct of those activities is unrelated to the religious and
educational purposes for which the association, corporation, or
society is organized.
(S) Nothing in this section shall be construed to establish
an unlawful employment practice based on actual or perceived
gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or
dressing facilities in which being seen unclothed is unavoidable,
provided that the employer provides reasonable access to adequate
facilities that are not inconsistent with an employee's gender
identity as established with the employer at the time of initial
employment or upon notification to the employer that the employee
has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is
later.
(T) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the
construction of new or additional facilities.
(U) Nothing in this section prohibits an employer from
implementing, enforcing, or modifying a dress code or grooming
standards not prohibited by other provisions of federal, state, or
local law and requiring an employee, during the employee's hours
at work, to adhere to the dress code or grooming standards,
provided that the employer permits any employee who has undergone
gender transition before being initially employed, and any
employee who has notified the employer that the employee has
undergone or is undergoing gender transition after being initially
employed, to adhere to the same dress code or grooming standards
to which the employee has transitioned or is transitioning.
(V) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize
or require any private employer, employment agency, or labor
organization to implement quotas or affirmative action policies or
programs, based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
(W) Upon receiving certification of a bona fide occupational
qualification from the commission, nothing in this section
requires an employer, whose business is primarily religious in
nature, to take any employment action that would compromise that
business's religious purposes relating to sexual orientation or
gender identity.
(X)(1) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for
any employer, employment agency, or labor organization to limit,
segregate, or classify its employees or applicants for employment
in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of
employment or otherwise adversely affect the status of the
individual as an employee because of the individual's actual or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
(2) The commission shall not collect statistics on actual or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity from any employer,
employment agency, or labor organization nor compel any of them to
collect such statistics.
(3) Only disparate treatment claims, and not disparate impact
claims, may be brought under this section on the basis of sexual
orientation or gender identity. As used in division (X)(3) of this
section, "disparate impact" means a facially neutral policy or
practice that has a negative impact on a protected group.
Sec. 4112.021. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Credit" means the right granted by a creditor to a
person to defer payment of a debt, to incur debt and defer its
payment, or to purchase property or services and defer payment for
the property or services.
(2) "Creditor" means any person who regularly extends,
renews, or continues credit, any person who regularly arranges for
the extension, renewal, or continuation of credit, or any assignee
of an original creditor who participates in the decision to
extend, renew, or continue credit, whether or not any interest or
finance charge is required.
(3) "Credit reporting agency" means any person who, for
monetary fees or dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis,
regularly assembles or evaluates credit information for the
purpose of furnishing credit reports to creditors.
(4) "Age" means any age of eighteen years or older.
(B) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:
(1) For any creditor to do any of the following:
(a) Discriminate against any applicant for credit in the
granting, withholding, extending, or renewing of credit, or in the
fixing of the rates, terms, or conditions of any form of credit,
on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, marital status,
national origin, disability, or ancestry, except that this
division shall not apply with respect to age in any real estate
transaction between a financial institution, a dealer in
intangibles, or an insurance company as defined in section 5725.01
of the Revised Code and its customers;
(b) Use or make any inquiry as to race, color, religion, age,
sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry for the
purpose of limiting or specifying those persons to whom credit
will be granted, except that an inquiry of marital status does not
constitute discrimination for the purposes of this section if the
inquiry is made for the purpose of ascertaining the creditor's
rights and remedies applicable to the particular extension of
credit, and except that creditors are excepted from this division
with respect to any inquiry, elicitation of information, record,
or form of application required of a particular creditor by any
instrumentality or agency of the United States, or required of a
particular creditor by any agency or instrumentality to enforce
the "Civil Rights Act of 1968," 82 Stat. 84, 85, 42 U.S.C.A.
3608(c);
(c) Refuse to consider the sources of income of an applicant
for credit, or disregard or ignore the income of an applicant, in
whole or in part, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex
gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
marital status, disability, national origin, or ancestry;
(d) Refuse to grant credit to an individual in any name that
individual customarily uses, if it has been determined in the
normal course of business that the creditor will grant credit to
the individual;
(e) Impose any special requirements or conditions, including,
but not limited to, a requirement for co-obligors or
reapplication, upon any applicant or class of applicants on the
basis of race, color, religion, age, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, marital status,
national origin, disability, or ancestry in circumstances where
similar requirements or conditions are not imposed on other
applicants similarly situated, unless the special requirements or
conditions that are imposed with respect to age are the result of
a real estate transaction exempted under division (B)(1)(a) of
this section or are the result of programs that grant preferences
to certain age groups administered by instrumentalities or
agencies of the United States, a state, or a political subdivision
of a state;
(f) Fail or refuse to provide an applicant for credit a
written statement of the specific reasons for rejection of the
application if requested in writing by the applicant within sixty
days of the rejection. The creditor shall provide the written
statement of the specific reason for rejection within thirty days
after receipt of a request of that nature. For purposes of this
section, a statement that the applicant was rejected solely on the
basis of information received from a credit reporting agency or
because the applicant failed to meet the standards required by the
creditor's credit scoring system, uniformly applied, shall
constitute a specific reason for rejection.
(g) Fail or refuse to print on or firmly attach to each
application for credit, in a type size no smaller than that used
throughout most of the application form, the following notice:
"The Ohio laws against discrimination require that all creditors
make credit equally available to all credit worthy customers, and
that credit reporting agencies maintain separate credit histories
on each individual upon request. The Ohio civil rights commission
administers compliance with this law." This notice is not required
to be included in applications that have a multi-state
distribution if the notice is mailed to the applicant with the
notice of acceptance or rejection of the application.
(h) Fail or refuse on the basis of race, color, religion,
age, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military
status, marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry
to maintain, upon the request of the individual, a separate
account for each individual to whom credit is extended;
(i) Fail or refuse on the basis of race, color, religion,
age, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military
status, marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry
to maintain records on any account established after November 1,
1976, to furnish information on the accounts to credit reporting
agencies in a manner that clearly designates the contractual
liability for repayment as indicated on the application for the
account, and, if more than one individual is contractually liable
for repayment, to maintain records and furnish information in the
name of each individual. This division does not apply to
individuals who are contractually liable only if the primary party
defaults on the account.
(2) For any credit reporting agency to do any of the
following:
(a) Fail or refuse on the basis of race, color, religion,
age, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military
status, marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry
to maintain, upon the request of the individual, a separate file
on each individual about whom information is assembled or
evaluated;
(b) Fail or refuse on the basis of race, color, religion,
age, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military
status, marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry
to clearly note, maintain, and report any information furnished it
under division (B)(1)(i) of this section.
(C) This section does not prohibit a creditor from requesting
the signature of both spouses to create a valid lien, pass clear
title, or waive inchoate rights to property.
(D) The rights granted by this section may be enforced by
aggrieved individuals by filing a civil action in a court of
common pleas within one hundred eighty days after the alleged
unlawful discriminatory practice occurred. Upon application by the
plaintiff and in circumstances that the court considers just, the
court in which a civil action under this section is brought may
appoint an attorney for the plaintiff and may authorize the
commencement of a civil action upon proper showing without the
payment of costs. If the court finds that an unlawful
discriminatory practice prohibited by this section occurred or is
about to occur, the court may grant relief that it considers
appropriate, including a permanent or temporary injunction,
temporary restraining order, or other order, and may award to the
plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages of not less than one
hundred dollars, together with attorney's fees and court costs.
(E) Nothing contained in this section shall bar a creditor
from reviewing an application for credit on the basis of
established criteria used in the normal course of business for the
determination of the credit worthiness of the individual applicant
for credit, including the credit history of the applicant.
Sec. 4112.04. (A) The commission shall do all of the
following:
(1) Establish and maintain a principal office in the city of
Columbus and any other offices within the state that it considers
necessary;
(2) Appoint an executive director who shall serve at the
pleasure of the commission and be its principal administrative
officer. The executive director shall be paid a salary fixed
pursuant to Chapter 124. of the Revised Code.
(3) Appoint hearing examiners and other employees and agents
who it considers necessary and prescribe their duties subject to
Chapter 124. of the Revised Code;
(4) Adopt, promulgate, amend, and rescind rules to effectuate
the provisions of this chapter and the policies and practice of
the commission in connection with this chapter;
(5) Formulate policies to effectuate the purposes of this
chapter and make recommendations to agencies and officers of the
state or political subdivisions to effectuate the policies;
(6) Receive, investigate, and pass upon written charges made
under oath of unlawful discriminatory practices;
(7) Make periodic surveys of the existence and effect of
discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, familial
status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry on the
enjoyment of civil rights by persons within the state;
(8) Report, from time to time, but not less than once a year,
to the general assembly and the governor, describing in detail the
investigations, proceedings, and hearings it has conducted and
their outcome, the decisions it has rendered, and the other work
performed by it, which report shall include a copy of any surveys
prepared pursuant to division (A)(7) of this section and shall
include the recommendations of the commission as to legislative or
other remedial action;
(9) Prepare a comprehensive educational program, in
cooperation with the department of education, for the students of
the primary and secondary public schools of this state and for all
other residents of this state that is designed to eliminate
prejudice on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, military
status, familial status, national origin, disability, age, or
ancestry in this state, to further good will among those groups,
and to emphasize the origin of prejudice
against those groups and
discrimination, its harmful effects, and its their incompatibility
with American principles of equality and fair play;
(10) Receive progress reports from agencies,
instrumentalities, institutions, boards, commissions, and other
entities of this state or any of its political subdivisions and
their agencies, instrumentalities, institutions, boards,
commissions, and other entities regarding affirmative action
programs for the employment of persons against whom discrimination
is prohibited by this chapter, or regarding any affirmative
housing accommodations programs developed to eliminate or reduce
an imbalance of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, familial status,
national origin, disability, or ancestry. All agencies,
instrumentalities, institutions, boards, commissions, and other
entities of this state or its political subdivisions, and all
political subdivisions, that have undertaken affirmative action
programs pursuant to a conciliation agreement with the commission,
an executive order of the governor, any federal statute or rule,
or an executive order of the president of the United States shall
file progress reports with the commission annually on or before
the first day of November. The commission shall analyze and
evaluate the progress reports and report its findings annually to
the general assembly on or before the thirtieth day of January of
the year immediately following the receipt of the reports.
(B) The commission may do any of the following:
(1) Meet and function at any place within the state;
(2) Initiate and undertake on its own motion investigations
of problems of employment or housing accommodations
discrimination;
(3) Hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, compel their
attendance, administer oaths, take the testimony of any person
under oath, require the production for examination of any books
and papers relating to any matter under investigation or in
question before the commission, and make rules as to the issuance
of subpoenas by individual commissioners.
(a) In conducting a hearing or investigation, the commission
shall have access at all reasonable times to premises, records,
documents, individuals, and other evidence or possible sources of
evidence and may examine, record, and copy the premises, records,
documents, and other evidence or possible sources of evidence and
take and record the testimony or statements of the individuals as
reasonably necessary for the furtherance of the hearing or
investigation. In investigations, the commission shall comply with
the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution relating to
unreasonable searches and seizures. The commission or a member of
the commission may issue subpoenas to compel access to or the
production of premises, records, documents, and other evidence or
possible sources of evidence or the appearance of individuals, and
may issue interrogatories to a respondent, to the same extent and
subject to the same limitations as would apply if the subpoenas or
interrogatories were issued or served in aid of a civil action in
a court of common pleas.
(b) Upon written application by a party to a hearing under
division (B) of section 4112.05 of the Revised Code, the
commission shall issue subpoenas in its name to the same extent
and subject to the same limitations as subpoenas issued by the
commission. Subpoenas issued at the request of a party shall show
on their face the name and address of the party and shall state
that they were issued at the party's request.
(c) Witnesses summoned by subpoena of the commission are
entitled to the witness and mileage fees provided for under
section 119.094 of the Revised Code.
(d) Within five days after service of a subpoena upon any
person, the person may petition the commission to revoke or modify
the subpoena. The commission shall grant the petition if it finds
that the subpoena requires an appearance or attendance at an
unreasonable time or place, that it requires production of
evidence that does not relate to any matter before the commission,
that it does not describe with sufficient particularity the
evidence to be produced, that compliance would be unduly onerous,
or for other good reason.
(e) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena, the
commission or person at whose request it was issued may petition
for its enforcement in the court of common pleas in the county in
which the person to whom the subpoena was addressed resides, was
served, or transacts business.
(4) Create local or statewide advisory agencies and
conciliation councils to aid in effectuating the purposes of this
chapter. The commission may itself, or it may empower these
agencies and councils to, do either or both of the following:
(a) Study the problems of discrimination in all or specific
fields of human relationships when based on race, color, religion,
sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status,
familial status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry;
(b) Foster through community effort, or otherwise, good will
among the groups and elements of the population of the state.
The agencies and councils may make recommendations to the
commission for the development of policies and procedures in
general. They shall be composed of representative citizens who
shall serve without pay, except that reimbursement for actual and
necessary traveling expenses shall be made to citizens who serve
on a statewide agency or council.
(5) Issue any publications and the results of investigations
and research that in its judgment will tend to promote good will
and minimize or eliminate discrimination because of race, color,
religion, sex gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
military status, familial status, national origin, disability,
age, or ancestry.
Sec. 4112.05. (A) The commission, as provided in this
section, shall prevent any person from engaging in unlawful
discriminatory practices, provided that, before instituting the
formal hearing authorized by division (B) of this section, it
shall attempt, by informal methods of conference, conciliation,
mediation, and persuasion, to induce compliance with this chapter.
(B)(1) Any person may file a charge with the commission
alleging that another person has engaged or is engaging in an
unlawful discriminatory practice. In the case of a charge alleging
an unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (A),
(B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (I), or (J) of section 4112.02 or in
section 4112.021 or 4112.022 of the Revised Code, the charge shall
be in writing and under oath and shall be filed with the
commission within six months after the alleged unlawful
discriminatory practice was committed. In the case of a charge
alleging an unlawful discriminatory practice described in division
(H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code, the charge shall be in
writing and under oath and shall be filed with the commission
within one year after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice
was committed.
(2) Upon receiving a charge, the commission may initiate a
preliminary investigation to determine whether it is probable that
an unlawful discriminatory practice has been or is being engaged
in. The commission also may conduct, upon its own initiative and
independent of the filing of any charges, a preliminary
investigation relating to any of the unlawful discriminatory
practices described in division (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (I),
or (J) of section 4112.02 or in section 4112.021 or 4112.022 of
the Revised Code. Prior to a notification of a complainant under
division (B)(4) of this section or prior to the commencement of
informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion under
that division, the members of the commission and the officers and
employees of the commission shall not make public in any manner
and shall retain as confidential all information that was obtained
as a result of or that otherwise pertains to a preliminary
investigation other than one described in division (B)(3) of this
section.
(3)(a) Unless it is impracticable to do so and subject to its
authority under division (B)(3)(d) of this section, the commission
shall complete a preliminary investigation of a charge filed
pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section that alleges an
unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (H) of
section 4112.02 of the Revised Code, and shall take one of the
following actions, within one hundred days after the filing of the
charge:
(i) Notify the complainant and the respondent that it is not
probable that an unlawful discriminatory practice described in
division (H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code has been or is
being engaged in and that the commission will not issue a
complaint in the matter;
(ii) Initiate a complaint and schedule it for informal
methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion;
(iii) Initiate a complaint and refer it to the attorney
general with a recommendation to seek a temporary or permanent
injunction or a temporary restraining order. If this action is
taken, the attorney general shall apply, as expeditiously as
possible after receipt of the complaint, to the court of common
pleas of the county in which the unlawful discriminatory practice
allegedly occurred for the appropriate injunction or order, and
the court shall hear and determine the application as
expeditiously as possible.
(b) If it is not practicable to comply with the requirements
of division (B)(3)(a) of this section within the one-hundred-day
period described in that division, the commission shall notify the
complainant and the respondent in writing of the reasons for the
noncompliance.
(c) Prior to the issuance of a complaint under division
(B)(3)(a)(ii) or (iii) of this section or prior to a notification
of the complainant and the respondent under division (B)(3)(a)(i)
of this section, the members of the commission and the officers
and employees of the commission shall not make public in any
manner and shall retain as confidential all information that was
obtained as a result of or that otherwise pertains to a
preliminary investigation of a charge filed pursuant to division
(B)(1) of this section that alleges an unlawful discriminatory
practice described in division (H) of section 4112.05 of the
Revised Code.
(d) Notwithstanding the types of action described in
divisions (B)(3)(a)(ii) and (iii) of this section, prior to the
issuance of a complaint or the referral of a complaint to the
attorney general and prior to endeavoring to eliminate an unlawful
discriminatory practice described in division (H) of section
4112.02 of the Revised Code by informal methods of conference,
conciliation, and persuasion, the commission may seek a temporary
or permanent injunction or a temporary restraining order in the
court of common pleas of the county in which the unlawful
discriminatory practice allegedly occurred.
(4) If the commission determines after a preliminary
investigation other than one described in division (B)(3) of this
section that it is not probable that an unlawful discriminatory
practice has been or is being engaged in, it shall notify any
complainant under division (B)(1) of this section that it has so
determined and that it will not issue a complaint in the matter.
If the commission determines after a preliminary investigation
other than the one described in division (B)(3) of this section
that it is probable that an unlawful discriminatory practice has
been or is being engaged in, it shall endeavor to eliminate the
practice by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and
persuasion.
(5) Nothing said or done during informal methods of
conference, conciliation, and persuasion under this section shall
be disclosed by any member of the commission or its staff or be
used as evidence in any subsequent hearing or other proceeding.
If, after a preliminary investigation and the use of informal
methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion under this
section, the commission is satisfied that any unlawful
discriminatory practice will be eliminated, it may treat the
charge involved as being conciliated and enter that disposition on
the records of the commission. If the commission fails to effect
the elimination of an unlawful discriminatory practice by informal
methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion under this
section and to obtain voluntary compliance with this chapter, the
commission shall issue and cause to be served upon any person,
including the respondent against whom a complainant has filed a
charge pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section, a complaint
stating the charges involved and containing a notice of an
opportunity for a hearing before the commission, a member of the
commission, or a hearing examiner at a place that is stated in the
notice and that is located within the county in which the alleged
unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred or is occurring or
in which the respondent resides or transacts business. The hearing
shall be held not less than thirty days after the service of the
complaint upon the complainant, the aggrieved persons other than
the complainant on whose behalf the complaint is issued, and the
respondent, unless the complainant, an aggrieved person, or the
respondent elects to proceed under division (A)(2) of section
4112.051 of the Revised Code when that division is applicable. If
a complaint pertains to an alleged unlawful discriminatory
practice described in division (H) of section 4112.02 of the
Revised Code, the complaint shall notify the complainant, an
aggrieved person, and the respondent of the right of the
complainant, an aggrieved person, or the respondent to elect to
proceed with the administrative hearing process under this section
or to proceed under division (A)(2) of section 4112.051 of the
Revised Code.
(6) The attorney general shall represent the commission at
any hearing held pursuant to division (B)(5) of this section and
shall present the evidence in support of the complaint.
(7) Any complaint issued pursuant to division (B)(5) of this
section after the filing of a charge under division (B)(1) of this
section shall be so issued within one year after the complainant
filed the charge with respect to an alleged unlawful
discriminatory practice.
(C) Any complaint issued pursuant to division (B) of this
section may be amended by the commission, a member of the
commission, or the hearing examiner conducting a hearing under
division (B) of this section, at any time prior to or during the
hearing. The respondent has the right to file an answer or an
amended answer to the original and amended complaints and to
appear at the hearing in person, by attorney, or otherwise to
examine and cross-examine witnesses.
(D) The complainant shall be a party to a hearing under
division (B) of this section, and any person who is an
indispensable party to a complete determination or settlement of a
question involved in the hearing shall be joined. Any aggrieved
person who has or claims an interest in the subject of the hearing
and in obtaining or preventing relief against the unlawful
discriminatory practices complained of shall be permitted to
appear only for the presentation of oral or written arguments, to
present evidence, perform direct and cross-examination, and be
represented by counsel. The commission shall adopt rules, in
accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code governing the
authority granted under this division.
(E) In any hearing under division (B) of this section, the
commission, a member of the commission, or the hearing examiner
shall not be bound by the Rules of Evidence but, in ascertaining
the practices followed by the respondent, shall take into account
all reliable, probative, and substantial statistical or other
evidence produced at the hearing that may tend to prove the
existence of a predetermined pattern of employment or membership,
provided that nothing contained in this section shall be construed
to authorize or require any person to observe the proportion that
persons of any race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, military status, familial status,
national origin, disability, age, or ancestry bear to the total
population or in accordance with any criterion other than the
individual qualifications of the applicant.
(F) The testimony taken at a hearing under division (B) of
this section shall be under oath and shall be reduced to writing
and filed with the commission. Thereafter, in its discretion, the
commission, upon the service of a notice upon the complainant and
the respondent that indicates an opportunity to be present, may
take further testimony or hear argument.
(G)(1) If, upon all reliable, probative, and substantial
evidence presented at a hearing under division (B) of this
section, the commission determines that the respondent has engaged
in, or is engaging in, any unlawful discriminatory practice,
whether against the complainant or others, the commission shall
state its findings of fact and conclusions of law and shall issue
and, subject to the provisions of Chapter 119. of the Revised
Code, cause to be served on the respondent an order requiring the
respondent to cease and desist from the unlawful discriminatory
practice, requiring the respondent to take any further affirmative
or other action that will effectuate the purposes of this chapter,
including, but not limited to, hiring, reinstatement, or upgrading
of employees with or without back pay, or admission or restoration
to union membership, and requiring the respondent to report to the
commission the manner of compliance. If the commission directs
payment of back pay, it shall make allowance for interim earnings.
If it finds a violation of division (H) of section 4112.02 of the
Revised Code, the commission additionally shall require the
respondent to pay actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees,
and may award to the complainant punitive damages as follows:
(a) If division (G)(1)(b) or (c) of this section does not
apply, punitive damages in an amount not to exceed ten thousand
dollars;
(b) If division (G)(1)(c) of this section does not apply and
if the respondent has been determined by a final order of the
commission or by a final judgment of a court to have committed one
violation of division (H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code
during the five-year period immediately preceding the date on
which a complaint was issued pursuant to division (B) of this
section, punitive damages in an amount not to exceed twenty-five
thousand dollars;
(c) If the respondent has been determined by a final order of
the commission or by a final judgment of a court to have committed
two or more violations of division (H) of section 4112.02 of the
Revised Code during the seven-year period immediately preceding
the date on which a complaint was issued pursuant to division (B)
of this section, punitive damages in an amount not to exceed fifty
thousand dollars.
(2) Upon the submission of reports of compliance, the
commission may issue a declaratory order stating that the
respondent has ceased to engage in particular unlawful
discriminatory practices.
(H) If the commission finds that no probable cause exists for
crediting charges of unlawful discriminatory practices or if, upon
all the evidence presented at a hearing under division (B) of this
section on a charge, the commission finds that a respondent has
not engaged in any unlawful discriminatory practice against the
complainant or others, it shall state its findings of fact and
shall issue and cause to be served on the complainant an order
dismissing the complaint as to the respondent. A copy of the order
shall be delivered in all cases to the attorney general and any
other public officers whom the commission considers proper.
(I) Until the time period for appeal set forth in division
(H) of section 4112.06 of the Revised Code expires, the
commission, subject to the provisions of Chapter 119. of the
Revised Code, at any time, upon reasonable notice, and in the
manner it considers proper, may modify or set aside, in whole or
in part, any finding or order made by it under this section.
Sec. 4112.08. This chapter shall be construed liberally for
the accomplishment of its purposes, and any law inconsistent with
any provision of this chapter shall not apply. Nothing contained
in this chapter shall be considered to repeal any of the
provisions of any law of this state relating to discrimination
because of race, color, religion, sex gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military status, familial status, disability,
national origin, age, or ancestry, except that any person filing a
charge under division (B)(1) of section 4112.05 of the Revised
Code, with respect to the unlawful discriminatory practices
complained of, is barred from instituting a civil action under
section 4112.14 or division (N) of section 4112.02 of the Revised
Code.
This chapter does not limit actions, procedures, and
remedies afforded under federal law.
Sec. 4117.19. (A) Every employee organization that is
certified or recognized as a representative of public employees
under this chapter shall file with the state employment relations
board a registration report that is signed by its president or
other appropriate officer. The report shall be in a form
prescribed by the board and accompanied by two copies of the
employee organization's constitution and bylaws. The board shall
accept a filing by a statewide, national, or international
employee organization of its constitution and bylaws in lieu of a
filing of the documents by each subordinate organization. The
exclusive representative or other employee organization originally
filing its constitution and bylaws shall report, promptly, to the
board all changes or amendments to its constitution and bylaws.
(B) Every employee organization shall file with the board an
annual report. The report shall be in a form prescribed by the
board and shall contain the following information:
(1) The names and addresses of the organization, any parent
organization or organizations with which it is affiliated, and all
organizationwide officers;
(2) The name and address of its local agent for service of
process;
(3) A general description of the public employees the
organization represents or seeks to represent;
(4) The amounts of the initiation fee and monthly dues
members must pay;
(5) A pledge, in a form prescribed by the board, that the
organization will comply with the laws of the state and that it
will accept members without regard to age, race, color, sex
gender, creed, religion, ancestry, or national origin,;
disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or military
status as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code, military status as defined in that section,; or
physical disability as provided by law:;
(C) The constitution or bylaws of every employee organization
shall do all of the following:
(1) Require that the organization keep accurate accounts of
all income and expenses, prepare an annual financial report, keep
open for inspection by any member of the organization its
accounts, and make loans to officers and agents only on terms and
conditions available to all members;
(2) Prohibit business or financial interests of its officers
and agents, their spouses, minor children, parents, or otherwise,
in conflict with the fiduciary obligation of such persons to the
organization;
(3) When specifically requested by the board, require every
official who is designated as a fiscal officer of an employee
organization and who is responsible for funds or other property of
the organization or trust in which an organization is interested,
or a subsidiary organization be bonded with the amount, scope, and
form of the bond determined by the board;
(4) Require periodic elections of officers by secret ballot
subject to recognized safeguards concerning the equal right of all
members to nominate, seek office, and vote in the elections, the
right of individual members to participate in the affairs of the
organization, and fair and equitable procedures in disciplinary
actions.
(D) The board shall prescribe rules necessary to govern the
establishment and reporting of trusteeships over employee
organizations. The establishment of trusteeships is permissible
only if the constitution or bylaws of the organization set forth
reasonable procedures.
(E) The board may withhold certification of an employee
organization that willfully refuses to register or file an annual
report or that willfully refuses to comply with other provisions
of this section. The board may revoke a certification of an
employee organization for willfully failing to comply with this
section. The board may enforce the prohibitions contained in this
section by petitioning the court of common pleas of the county in
which the violation occurs for an injunction. Persons complaining
of a violation of this section shall file the complaint with the
board.
(F) Upon the written request to the board of any member of a
certified employee organization and where the board determines the
necessity for an audit, the board may require the employee
organization to provide a certified audit of its financial
records.
(G) Any employee organization subject to the
"Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959," 73 Stat.
519, 29 U.S.C.A., 401, as amended, may file copies with the board
of all reports it is required to file under that act in lieu of
compliance with all parts of this section other than division (A)
of this section. The board shall accept a filing by a statewide,
national, or international employee organization of its reports in
lieu of a filing of such reports by each subordinate organization.
Sec. 4735.16. (A) Every real estate broker licensed under
this chapter shall erect or maintain a sign on the business
premises plainly stating that the licensee is a real estate
broker. If the real estate broker maintains one or more branch
offices, the real estate broker shall erect or maintain a sign at
each branch office plainly stating that the licensee is a real
estate broker.
(B)(1) Any licensed real estate broker or salesperson who
advertises to buy, sell, exchange, or lease real estate, or to
engage in any act regulated by this chapter, with respect to
property the licensee does not own, shall be identified in the
advertisement by name and indicate the name of the brokerage with
which the licensee is affiliated.
(2) Any licensed real estate broker or sales person
salesperson who advertises to sell, exchange, or lease real
estate, or to engage in any act regulated by this chapter, with
respect to property that the licensee owns, shall be identified in
the advertisement by name and indicate that the property is agent
owned, and if the property is listed with a real estate brokerage,
the advertisement shall also indicate the name of the brokerage
with which the property is listed.
(3) The name of the brokerage shall be displayed in equal
prominence with the name of the salesperson in the advertisement.
For purposes of this section, "brokerage" means the name the real
estate company or sole broker is doing business as, or if the real
estate company or sole broker does not use such a name, the name
of the real estate company or sole broker as licensed.
(4) A real estate broker who is representing a seller under
an exclusive right to sell or lease listing agreement shall not
advertise such property to the public as "for sale by owner" or
otherwise mislead the public to believe that the seller is not
represented by a real estate broker.
(5) If any real estate broker or real estate salesperson
advertises in a manner other than as provided in this section or
the rules adopted under this section, that advertisement is
prima-facie evidence of a violation under division (A)(21) of
section 4735.18 of the Revised Code.
When the superintendent determines that prima-facie evidence
of a violation of division (A)(21) of section 4735.18 of the
Revised Code or any of the rules adopted thereunder exists, the
superintendent may do either of the following:
(a) Initiate disciplinary action under section 4735.051 of
the Revised Code for a violation of division (A)(21) of section
4735.18 of the Revised Code, in accordance with Chapter 119. of
the Revised Code;
(b) Personally, or by certified mail, serve a citation upon
the licensee.
(C)(1) Every citation served under this section shall give
notice to the licensee of the alleged violation or violations
charged and inform the licensee of the opportunity to request a
hearing in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. The
citation also shall contain a statement of a fine of two hundred
dollars per violation, not to exceed two thousand five hundred
dollars per citation. All fines collected pursuant to this section
shall be credited to the real estate recovery fund, created in the
state treasury under section 4735.12 of the Revised Code.
(2) If any licensee is cited three times within twelve
consecutive months, the superintendent shall initiate disciplinary
action pursuant to section 4735.051 of the Revised Code for any
subsequent violation that occurs within the same twelve-month
period.
(3) If a licensee fails to request a hearing within thirty
days of the date of service of the citation, or the licensee and
the superintendent fail to reach an alternative agreement, the
citation shall become final.
(4) Unless otherwise indicated, the licensee named in a final
citation must meet all requirements contained in the final
citation within thirty days of the effective date of that
citation.
(5) The superintendent shall suspend automatically a
licensee's license if the licensee fails to comply with division
(C)(4) of this section.
(D) A real estate broker or salesperson obtaining the
signature of a party to a listing or other agreement involved in a
real estate transaction shall furnish a copy of the listing or
other agreement to the party immediately after obtaining the
party's signature. Every broker's office shall prominently display
in the same immediate area as licenses are displayed a statement
that it is illegal to discriminate against any person because of
race, color, religion, sex gender, national origin, or ancestry;
or familial status as defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised
Code, national origin, military status as defined in that section,
disability as defined in that section, gender identity, or
ancestry sexual orientation, as those terms are defined in section
4112.01 of the Revised Code, in the sale or rental of housing or
residential lots, in advertising the sale or rental of housing, in
the financing of housing, or in the provision of real estate
brokerage services and that blockbusting also is illegal. The
statement shall bear the United States department of housing and
urban development equal housing logo, shall contain the
information that the broker and the broker's salespersons are
licensed by the division of real estate and professional licensing
and that the division can assist with any consumer complaints or
inquiries, and shall explain the provisions of section 4735.12 of
the Revised Code. The statement shall provide the division's
address and telephone number. The Ohio real estate commission
shall provide by rule for the wording and size of the statement.
The pamphlet required under section 4735.03 of the Revised Code
shall contain the same statement that is required on the statement
displayed as provided in this section and shall be made available
by real estate brokers and salespersons to their clients. The
commission shall provide the wording and size of the pamphlet.
Sec. 4735.55. (A) Each written agency agreement shall
contain all of the following:
(2) A statement that it is illegal, pursuant to the Ohio fair
housing law, division (H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code,
and the federal fair housing law, 42 U.S.C.A. 3601, as amended, to
refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease, or
finance housing accommodations, refuse to negotiate for the sale
or rental of housing accommodations, or otherwise deny or make
unavailable housing accommodations because of race, color,
religion, sex gender, national origin, or ancestry; or familial
status as defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,
ancestry, military status as defined in that section, disability
as defined in that section, gender identity, or national origin
sexual orientation, as those terms are defined in section 4112.01
of the Revised Code, or to so discriminate in advertising the sale
or rental of housing, in the financing of housing, or in the
provision of real estate brokerage services;
(3) A statement defining the practice known as "blockbusting"
and stating that it is illegal;
(4) A copy of the United States department of housing and
urban development equal housing opportunity logotype, as set forth
in 24 C.F.R. 109.30, as amended.
(B) Each written agency agreement shall contain a place for
the licensee and the client to sign and date the agreement.
(C) A licensee shall furnish a copy of any written agency
agreement to a client in a timely manner after the licensee and
the client have signed and dated it.
Sec. 4757.07. The counselor, social worker, and marriage and
family therapist board and its professional standards committees
shall not discriminate against any licensee, registrant, or
applicant for a license or certificate of registration under this
chapter because of the person's race, color, religion, sex gender,
or national origin,; disability, sexual orientation, or gender
identity, as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code,; or age. The board or committee, as appropriate,
shall afford a hearing to any person who files with the board or
committee a statement alleging discrimination based on any of
those reasons.
Sec. 4758.16. The chemical dependency professionals board
shall not discriminate against any licensee, certificate holder,
or applicant for a license or certificate under this chapter
because of the individual's race, color, religion, gender,
or
national origin,; disability, sexual orientation, or gender
identity, as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code,; or age. The board shall afford a hearing to any
individual who files with the board a statement alleging
discrimination based on any of those reasons.
Sec. 4765.18. The state board of emergency medical services
may suspend or revoke a certificate of accreditation or a
certificate of approval issued under section 4765.17 of the
Revised Code for any of the following reasons:
(A) Violation of this chapter or any rule adopted under it;
(B) Furnishing of false, misleading, or incomplete
information to the board;
(C) The signing of an application or the holding of a
certificate of accreditation by a person who has pleaded guilty to
or has been convicted of a felony, or has pleaded guilty to or
been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude;
(D) The signing of an application or the holding of a
certificate of accreditation by a person who is addicted to the
use of any controlled substance or has been adjudicated
incompetent for that purpose by a court, as provided in section
5122.301 of the Revised Code;
(E) Violation of any commitment made in an application for a
certificate of accreditation or certificate of approval;
(F) Presentation to prospective students of misleading,
false, or fraudulent information relating to the emergency medical
services training program or emergency medical services continuing
education program, employment opportunities, or opportunities for
enrollment in accredited institutions of higher education after
entering or completing courses offered by the operator of a
program;
(G) Failure to maintain in a safe and sanitary condition
premises and equipment used in conducting courses of study;
(H) Failure to maintain financial resources adequate for the
satisfactory conduct of courses of study or to retain a sufficient
number of certified instructors;
(I) Discrimination in the acceptance of students upon the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color,
religion, sex gender, or national origin.
Sec. 5104.09. (A)(1) Except as provided in rules adopted
pursuant to division (D) of this section, no individual who has
been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a violation described in
division (A)(9) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code, a
violation of section 2905.11, 2909.02, 2909.03, 2909.04, 2909.05,
2917.01, 2917.02, 2917.03, 2917.31, 2921.03, 2921.34, or 2921.35
of the Revised Code or a violation of an existing or former law or
ordinance of any municipal corporation, this state, any other
state, or the United States that is substantially equivalent to
any of those violations, or two violations of section 4511.19 of
the Revised Code during operation of the center or home shall be
certified as an in-home aide or be employed in any capacity in or
own or operate a child day-care center, type A family day-care
home, type B family day-care home, or certified type B family
day-care home.
(2) Each employee of a child day-care center and type A home
and every person eighteen years of age or older residing in a type
A home shall sign a statement on forms prescribed by the director
of job and family services attesting to the fact that the employee
or resident person has not been convicted of or pleaded guilty to
any offense set forth in division (A)(1) of this section and that
no child has been removed from the employee's or resident person's
home pursuant to section 2151.353 of the Revised Code. Each
licensee of a type A home shall sign a statement on a form
prescribed by the director attesting to the fact that no person
who resides at the type A home and who is under the age of
eighteen has been adjudicated a delinquent child for committing a
violation of any section listed in division (A)(1) of this
section. The statements shall be kept on file at the center or
type A home.
(3) Each in-home aide and every person eighteen years of age
or older residing in a certified type B home shall sign a
statement on forms prescribed by the director of job and family
services attesting that the aide or resident person has not been
convicted of or pleaded guilty to any offense set forth in
division (A)(1) of this section and that no child has been removed
from the aide's or resident person's home pursuant to section
2151.353 of the Revised Code. Each authorized provider shall sign
a statement on forms prescribed by the director attesting that the
provider has not been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any
offense set forth in division (A)(1) of this section and that no
child has been removed from the provider's home pursuant to
section 2151.353 of the Revised Code. Each authorized provider
shall sign a statement on a form prescribed by the director
attesting to the fact that no person who resides at the certified
type B home and who is under the age of eighteen has been
adjudicated a delinquent child for committing a violation of any
section listed in division (A)(1) of this section. The statements
shall be kept on file at the county department of job and family
services.
(4) Each administrator and licensee of a center or type A
home shall sign a statement on a form prescribed by the director
of job and family services attesting that the administrator or
licensee has not been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any
offense set forth in division (A)(1) of this section and that no
child has been removed from the administrator's or licensee's home
pursuant to section 2151.353 of the Revised Code. The statement
shall be kept on file at the center or type A home.
(B) No in-home aide, no administrator, licensee, authorized
provider, or employee of a center, type A home, or certified type
B home, and no person eighteen years of age or older residing in a
type A home or certified type B home shall withhold information
from, or falsify information on, any statement required pursuant
to division (A)(2), (3), or (4) of this section.
(C) No administrator, licensee, or child-care staff member
shall discriminate in the enrollment of children in a child
day-care center upon the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the
Revised Code, race, color, religion, sex gender, or national
origin.
(D) The director of job and family services shall adopt rules
pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to implement this
section, including rules specifying exceptions to the prohibition
in division (A) of this section for persons who have been
convicted of an offense listed in that division but meet
rehabilitation standards set by the department.
Sec. 5107.26. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Transitional child care" means publicly funded child
care provided under division (A)(3) of section 5104.34 of the
Revised Code.
(2) "Transitional medicaid" means the medical assistance
provided under section 5111.0115 of the Revised Code.
(B) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, each
member of an assistance group participating in Ohio works first is
ineligible to participate in the program for six payment months if
a county department of job and family services determines that a
member of the assistance group terminated the member's employment
and each person who, on the day prior to the day a recipient
begins to receive transitional child care or transitional
medicaid, was a member of the recipient's assistance group is
ineligible to participate in Ohio works first for six payment
months if a county department determines that the recipient
terminated the recipient's employment.
(C) No assistance group member shall lose or be denied
eligibility to participate in Ohio works first pursuant to
division (B) of this section if the termination of employment was
because an assistance group member or recipient of transitional
child care or transitional medicaid secured comparable or better
employment or the county department of job and family services
certifies that the member or recipient terminated the employment
with just cause.
Just cause includes the following:
(1) Discrimination by an employer based on sexual orientation
or gender identity as those terms are defined in section 4112.01
of the Revised Code, age, race, sex gender, color, handicap,
religious beliefs, or national origin;
(2) Work demands or conditions that render continued
employment unreasonable, such as working without being paid on
schedule;
(3) Employment that has become unsuitable due to any of the
following:
(a) The wage is less than the federal minimum wage;
(b) The work is at a site subject to a strike or lockout,
unless the strike has been enjoined under section 208 of the
"Labor-Management Relations Act," 61 Stat. 155 (1947), 29 U.S.C.A.
178, as amended, an injunction has been issued under section 10 of
the "Railway Labor Act," 44 Stat. 586 (1926), 45 U.S.C.A. 160, as
amended, or an injunction has been issued under section 4117.16 of
the Revised Code;
(c) The documented degree of risk to the member or
recipient's health and safety is unreasonable;
(d) The member or recipient is physically or mentally unfit
to perform the employment, as documented by medical evidence or by
reliable information from other sources.
(4) Documented illness of the member or recipient or of
another assistance group member of the member or recipient
requiring the presence of the member or recipient;
(5) A documented household emergency;
(6) Lack of adequate child care for children of the member or
recipient who are under six years of age.
Sec. 5111.31. (A) Every provider agreement with the provider
of a nursing facility or intermediate care facility for the
mentally retarded shall:
(1) Prohibit the provider from failing or refusing to retain
as a patient any person because the person is, becomes, or may, as
a patient in the facility, become a medicaid recipient. For the
purposes of this division, a medicaid recipient who is a patient
in a facility shall be considered a patient in the facility during
any hospital stays totaling less than twenty-five days during any
twelve-month period. Recipients who have been identified by the
department of job and family services or its designee as requiring
the level of care of an intermediate care facility for the
mentally retarded shall not be subject to a maximum period of
absences during which they are considered patients if prior
authorization of the department for visits with relatives and
friends and participation in therapeutic programs is obtained
under rules adopted under section 5111.02 of the Revised Code.
(2) Except as provided by division (B)(1) of this section,
include any part of the facility that meets standards for
certification of compliance with federal and state laws and rules
for participation in the medicaid program.
(3) Prohibit the provider from discriminating against any
patient on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as
those terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,
race, color, sex gender, creed, or national origin.
(4) Except as otherwise prohibited under section 5111.55 of
the Revised Code, prohibit the provider from failing or refusing
to accept a patient because the patient is, becomes, or may, as a
patient in the facility, become a medicaid recipient if less than
eighty per cent of the patients in the facility are medicaid
recipients.
(B)(1) Except as provided by division (B)(2) of this section,
the following are not required to be included in a provider
agreement unless otherwise required by federal law:
(a) Beds added during the period beginning July 1, 1987, and
ending July 1, 1993, to a nursing home licensed under Chapter
3721. of the Revised Code;
(b) Beds in an intermediate care facility for the mentally
retarded that are designated for respite care under a medicaid
waiver component operated pursuant to a waiver sought under
section 5111.87 of the Revised Code.
(2) If a provider chooses to include a bed specified in
division (B)(1)(a) of this section in a provider agreement, the
bed may not be removed from the provider agreement unless the
provider withdraws the facility in which the bed is located from
the medicaid program.
(C) Nothing in this section shall bar a provider that is a
religious organization operating a religious or denominational
nursing facility or intermediate care facility for the mentally
retarded from giving preference to persons of the same religion or
denomination. Nothing in this section shall bar any provider from
giving preference to persons with whom the provider has contracted
to provide continuing care.
(D) Nothing in this section shall bar the provider of a
county home organized under Chapter 5155. of the Revised Code from
admitting residents exclusively from the county in which the
county home is located.
(E) No provider of a nursing facility or intermediate care
facility for the mentally retarded for which a provider agreement
is in effect shall violate the provider contract obligations
imposed under this section.
(F) Nothing in divisions (A) and (C) of this section shall
bar a provider from retaining patients who have resided in the
provider's facility for not less than one year as private pay
patients and who subsequently become medicaid recipients, but
refusing to accept as a patient any person who is or may, as a
patient in the facility, become a medicaid recipient, if all of
the following apply:
(1) The provider does not refuse to retain any patient who
has resided in the provider's facility for not less than one year
as a private pay patient because the patient becomes a medicaid
recipient, except as necessary to comply with division (F)(2) of
this section;
(2) The number of medicaid recipients retained under this
division does not at any time exceed ten per cent of all the
patients in the facility;
(3) On July 1, 1980, all the patients in the facility were
private pay patients.
Sec. 5119.623. The director of mental health may withhold
funds otherwise to be allocated to a board of alcohol, drug
addiction, and mental health services under section 5119.62 of the
Revised Code if the board denies available service on the basis of
religion, race, color, creed, sex gender, national origin, or
age,; disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as those
terms are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,; or
developmental disability.
Sec. 5123.351. The director of developmental disabilities,
with respect to the eligibility for state reimbursement of
expenses incurred by facilities and programs established and
operated under Chapter 5126. of the Revised Code for persons with
mental retardation or a developmental disability, shall do all of
the following:
(A) Make rules that may be necessary to carry out the
purposes of Chapter 5126. and sections 5123.35, 5123.351, and
5123.36 of the Revised Code;
(B) Define minimum standards for qualifications of personnel,
professional services, and in-service training and educational
leave programs;
(C) Review and evaluate community programs and make
recommendations for needed improvements to county boards of
developmental disabilities and to program directors;
(D) Withhold state reimbursement, in whole or in part, from
any county or combination of counties for failure to comply with
Chapter 5126. or section 5123.35 or 5123.351 of the Revised Code
or rules of the department of developmental disabilities;
(E) Withhold state funds from an agency, corporation, or
association denying or rendering service on the basis of race,
color, sex gender, religion, ancestry, or national origin,;
disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as those terms
are defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code,; or inability
to pay;
(F) Provide consultative staff service to communities to
assist in ascertaining needs and in planning and establishing
programs.
Sec. 5126.07. No county board of developmental disabilities
or any agency, corporation, or association under contract with a
county board of developmental disabilities shall discriminate in
the provision of services under its authority or contract on the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color, sex
gender, creed, disability, national origin, or the inability to
pay.
Each county board of developmental disabilities shall provide
a plan of affirmative action describing its goals and methods for
the provision of equal employment opportunities for all persons
under its authority and shall ensure nondiscrimination in
employment under its authority or contract on the basis of sexual
orientation or gender identity as those terms are defined in
section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, color, sex gender,
creed, disability, or national origin.
Sec. 5515.08. (A) The department of transportation may
contract to sell commercial advertising space within or on the
outside surfaces of any building located within a roadside rest
area under its jurisdiction in exchange for cash payment. Money
the department receives under this section shall be deposited in
the state treasury to the credit of the roadside rest area
improvement fund, which is hereby created. The department shall
use the money in the fund only to improve roadside rest areas in
accordance with section 5529.06 of the Revised Code.
(B) Advertising placed under this section shall comply with
all of the following:
(1) It shall not be libelous or obscene and shall not promote
any illegal product or service.
(2) It shall not promote illegal discrimination on the basis
of the sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, religion,
gender, national origin, handicap, age, or ancestry of any person.
(3) It shall not support or oppose any candidate for
political office or any political cause, issue, or organization.
(4) It shall comply with any controlling federal or state
regulations or restrictions.
(5) To the extent physically and technically practical, it
shall state that the advertisement is a paid commercial
advertisement and that the state does not endorse the product or
service promoted by the advertisement or make any representation
about the accuracy of the advertisement or the quality or
performance of the product or service promoted by the
advertisement.
(6) It shall conform to all applicable rules adopted by the
director of transportation under division (E) of this section.
(C) Contracts entered into under this section shall be
awarded only to the qualified bidder who submits the highest
responsive bid or according to uniformly applied rate classes.
(D) No person, except an advertiser alleging a breach of
contract or the improper awarding of a contract, has a cause of
action against the state with respect to any contract or
advertising authorized by this section. Under no circumstances is
the state liable for consequential or noneconomic damages with
respect to any contract or advertising authorized under this
section.
(E) The director, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the
Revised Code, shall adopt rules to implement this section. The
rules shall be consistent with the policy of protecting the safety
of the traveling public and consistent with the national policy
governing the use and control of such roadside rest areas. The
rules shall regulate the awarding of contracts and may regulate
the content, display, and other aspects of the commercial
advertising authorized by this section.
Sec. 5709.832. The legislative authority of a county,
township, or municipal corporation that grants an exemption from
taxation under Chapter 725. or 1728. or section 3735.67, 5709.40,
5709.41, 5709.62, 5709.63, 5709.632, 5709.73, or 5709.78 of the
Revised Code shall develop policies to ensure that the recipient
of the exemption practices nondiscriminatory hiring in its
operations. As used in this section, "nondiscriminatory hiring"
means that no individual may be denied employment solely on the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as those terms are
defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, race, religion,
sex gender, disability, color, national origin, or ancestry.
Section 2. That existing sections 9.03, 124.93, 125.111,
340.12, 511.03, 717.01, 1501.012, 1751.18, 2927.03, 3113.36,
3301.53, 3304.14, 3304.50, 3313.481, 3314.06, 3332.09, 3721.13,
3905.55, 4111.17, 4112.01, 4112.02, 4112.021, 4112.04, 4112.05,
4112.08, 4117.19, 4735.16, 4735.55, 4757.07, 4758.16, 4765.18,
5104.09, 5107.26, 5111.31, 5119.623, 5123.351, 5126.07, 5515.08,
and 5709.832 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Section 4112.04 of the Revised Code is presented
in this act as a composite of the section as amended by both Am.
Sub. H.B. 525 of the 127th General Assembly and Am. Sub. H.B. 1 of
the 128th 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.
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