Employment Law Uniformity Act Takes Effect

Ohio Revised Code § 4112 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age or ancestry.

Beginning April 15, 2021, employment discrimination claims filed in Ohio will be subject to some new parameters. This is due to the recent enactment of the Employment Law Uniformity Act, or ELUA, which Governor DeWine signed in January of 2021. While the pros and cons of these revisions may be debated, they do achieve the goal of more closely aligning Ohio’s employment discrimination procedures with federal measures.

The ELUA revises Ohio’s antidiscrimination statute in five primary ways:

1. Ohio employees are required to file a charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission before filing a state court lawsuit to assert discrimination claims.

2. The deadline to file an employment discrimination lawsuit has been decreased from six (6) years to two (2) years. The two-year period is tolled, however, during the time the Ohio Civil Rights Commission claim is pending. Age discrimination claims are now subject to the same statute of limitations as other discrimination claims.

3. The liability of individual supervisors and managers is limited to only those cases where the supervisor or manager has retaliated against the employee for: a) opposing a discriminatory practice; b) aided and abetted a discriminatory practice; or 3) obstructed an investigation of discrimination. Employees can, however, still hold an employer vicariously liable for the actions of its supervisory and other employees.

4. An employer cannot be held liable on a hostile work environment claim if the employer used reasonable care to prevent and/or promptly correct the harassment and the employee did not take advantage of the preventative opportunities provided by the employer.

5. Certain damages recoverable in a case for employment discrimination are capped. Economic compensatory damages (such as lost wages) are not subject to this statutory limitation, but non-economic (emotional distress) and punitive damages are. Specifically, non-economic damages cannot exceed 3x the economic compensatory damages up to $350,000 or $250,000, whichever is higher. Punitive damages cannot exceed 2x the economic compensatory damages, but the punitive damages calculation does not include any award of attorney’s fees.