2011 Ohio Revised Code
Title [41] XLI LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Chapter 4117: PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
4117.15 [First of two versions] Strike - injunction.

(A) Whenever a strike by members of a police or fire department, members of the state highway patrol, deputy sheriffs, dispatchers employed by a police, fire or sheriff’s department or the state highway patrol or civilian dispatchers employed by a public employer other than a police, fire, or sheriff’s department to dispatch police, fire, sheriff’s department, or emergency medical or rescue personnel and units, an exclusive nurse’s unit, employees of the state school for the deaf or the state school for the blind, employees of any public employee retirement system, correction officers, guards at penal or mental institutions, or special police officers appointed in accordance with sections 5119.14 and 5123.13 of the Revised Code, psychiatric attendants employed at mental health forensic facilities, youth leaders employed at juvenile correctional facilities, or members of a law enforcement security force that is established and maintained exclusively by a board of county commissioners and whose members are employed by that board, a strike by other public employees during the pendency of the settlement procedures set forth in section 4117.14 of the Revised Code, or a strike during the term or extended term of a collective bargaining agreement occurs, the public employer may seek an injunction against the strike in the court of common pleas of the county in which the strike is located.

(B) An unfair labor practice by a public employer is not a defense to the injunction proceeding noted in division (A) of this section. Allegations of unfair labor practices during the settlement procedures set forth in section 4117.14 of the Revised Code shall receive priority by the state employment relations board.

(C) No public employee is entitled to pay or compensation from the public employer for the period engaged in any strike.

Effective Date: 04-01-1984; 2008 HB562 09-23-2008

This section is set out twice. See also § 4117.15, as amended by 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, § 1, subject to referendum.

4117.15 [Second of two versions] Strike; injunction; penalties

(A) No public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike, and no public employee or employee organization shall cause, instigate, encourage, or condone a strike. Whenever a strike occurs, the public employer may seek an injunction against the strike in the court of common pleas of the county in which the strike is located.

(B) Any person who violates division (A) of this section may be subject to removal or other disciplinary action provided by law for misconduct. The public employer, the state employment relations board, or any court of competent jurisdiction shall not waive the penalties or fines provided in this section as part of the settlement of an illegal strike.

(C) A public employee who is absent from work without permission or who abstains wholly or in part from the full performance of the employee’s duties in the employee’s normal manner without permission, on the date when a strike occurs, shall be presumed to have engaged in the strike on that date.

(D) No person exercising on behalf of any public employer any authority, supervision, or direction over any public employee shall have the power to authorize, approve, condone, or consent to a strike, or the engaging in a strike, by one or more public employees, and such person shall not authorize, approve, condone or consent to such strike or engagement.

(E) In the event that it appears that a violation of this section may have occurred, the chief executive officer of the public employer involved shall, on the basis of such investigation and affidavits as the chief executive officer may deem appropriate, determine whether or not such violation has occurred and the dates of such violation. If the chief executive officer determines that such violation has occurred, the chief executive officer shall also determine, on the basis of such further investigation and affidavits as the chief executive officer may deem appropriate, the names of public employees who committed the violation and the dates thereof. Such determination shall not be final until the completion of the procedures provided for in this section.

(F) The chief executive officer shall immediately notify each public employee that the chief executive officer has been found to have committed the violation, the dates of the violation, and that the public employee has the right to object to the determination under division (H) of this section. The chief executive officer shall also notify the chief fiscal officer of the public employer involved of the names of all the employees determined to have violated this section and of the total number of days, or portions thereof, on which it has been determined that the violation occurred. Notice to each employee shall be by personal service or by certified mail to the employee’s last address filed by the employee with the employer.

(G) Not earlier than thirty days or later than ninety days following the date of the determination made under division (E) of this section, the chief fiscal officer of the public employer involved shall deduct from the compensation of each such public employee an amount equal to twice the employee’s daily rate of pay for each day or part thereof that the chief executive officer determined that the employee violated this section. The employee’s daily rate of pay is the employee’s rate of pay at the time of the violation. In computing the deduction, the chief fiscal officer shall allow credit for amounts already withheld from an employee’s compensation on account of the employee’s absence from work or other withholding of services on the dates of the violation. In computing the thirty-day to ninety-day period of time following the determination of a violation pursuant to division (E) of this section if the employee’s annual compensation is paid over a period of time that is less than fifty-two weeks, the chief fiscal officer shall not count that period of time between the last day of the last payroll period of the employment term in which the violation occurred and the first day of the first payroll period of the next succeeding employment term.

(H) Within twenty days after the date on which notice was served or mailed to a public employee pursuant to division (F) of this section, the employee determined to have violated this section may object to the determination by filing with the chief executive officer the employee’s sworn affidavit, which shall contain a short and plain statement of the facts upon which the employee relies to show that such determination was incorrect and which shall be supported by available documentary proof. An employee who submits an affidavit pursuant to this division shall be subject to the penalties of perjury.

(1) If the chief executive officer determines that the affidavit and supporting proof establishes that the employee did not violate this section, the chief executive officer shall sustain and dismiss the objection and so notify the employee.

(2) If the chief executive officer determines that the affidavit and supporting proof raises a question of fact which, if resolved in favor of the employee, would establish that the employee did not violate this section, the chief executive officer shall appoint a hearing officer to determine whether in fact the employee did violate this section. The employee shall bear the burden of proof at the hearing. If the hearing officer determines that the employee failed to establish that the employee did not violate this section, the chief executive officer shall so notify the employee.

(3) If the chief executive officer sustains an objection or the hearing officer determines on a preponderance of the evidence that the employee did not violate this section, the chief executive officer shall immediately notify the chief fiscal officer who shall cease all further deductions and refund any deductions previously made pursuant to division (G) of this section.

(I) The determinations provided in this section shall be reviewable pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

(J) An unfair labor practice by a public employer is not a defense to the injunction proceeding noted in division (A) of this section. Allegations of unfair labor practices during the settlement procedures set forth in section 4117.14 of the Revised Code shall receive priority by the state employment relations board.

(K) No public employee is entitled to pay or compensation from the public employer for the period engaged in any strike.

(L) As used in this section and section 4117.27 of the Revised Code “public employee” has the same meaning as in section 4117.01 of the Revised Code, except “public employee” also includes those persons listed in divisions (C)(1) to (18) of that section.

Amended by 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, § 1. This amendment is subject to referendum in the Nov. 8, 2011 election.

Effective Date: 04-01-1984; 2008 HB562 09-23-2008

See 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, §4.

The amendment to this section by 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, § 1 has been made subject to referendum in the upcoming November, 2011 election.

This section is set out twice.