House Bill 56 was introduced on February 10, 2015. The bill seeks to amend several provisions of the Ohio Revised Code that deal with the use of prior criminal convictions and criminal background checks in the hiring process for public employers. The bill applies to the State and its political subdivisions but not to private [...]
On March 10, 2015, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (“CARES”) Act. The primary focus of the legislation is to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act from a “schedule I” substance to “schedule II” substance under Federal law. Schedule I drugs are defined to have [...]
Last January, Fishel Hass reported on Senate Bill 252. In December of 2013, SB 252 was introduced in the Ohio Senate to exempt police and fire employees from the effects of a Supreme Court decision that held that psychiatric conditions, without an accompanying physical injury or occupational disease, are not compensable under workers’ compensation. Armstrong [...]
Attorneys Marc Fishel and Paul Bernhart had a Court of Appeals affirm a decision awarding summary judgment to the City of Sandusky in an employment discrimination case brought by a former City firefighter. The firefighter was diagnosed with a neurological disorder in 2004 and disclosed the diagnosis to his supervisors. By 2008, the Assistant Fire [...]
Dan Downey and Paul Bernhart received summary judgment on behalf of a former Meigs County Sheriff’s Deputy in a federal lawsuit alleging Fourth Amendment violations. The case involved law enforcement officers seizing “potpourri” (synthetic marijuana) from Plaintiff’s roadside stand in August, 2011. Ohio passed a law criminalizing synthetic marijuana in 2011, however the law did [...]
On December 19, 2014, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 5 into law. The bill’s aim is to streamline municipal tax codes in order to make it easier for businesses to file local tax returns. In Ohio, municipalities that have adopted a charter are permitted to pass their own laws, and as a result, [...]
Two recent court rulings have provided further guidance on First Amendment protection for public employees. Both cases involve allegations from public employees that they were fired in violation of their First Amendment rights. In June of 2014, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Lane v. Frank, which clarified free speech rights for [...]
Beginning January 1, 2015 the Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes information reporting requirements on employers. The purpose of the employer reporting requirements is to provide verification to the IRS that health insurance with minimal essential coverage was offered to employees and to provide verification that the employee either accepted or denied the coverage. The IRS [...]
On December 3, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on issues related to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The issue the court will decide is: “Whether, and in what circumstances, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k), requires an employer that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations to provide work [...]
On December, 9, 2014, the court issued its decision in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk. The Court ruled that the employer need not compensate warehouse workers for time spent passing through security screenings at the end of their shifts. The employer required its warehouse workers who retrieved inventory and packaged it for shipment, to [...]
