Late last year, Governor Strickland signed the “Ohio’s Veteran Package” (otherwise lovingly known as Substitute House Bill 372), which -- beginning next month on March 24, 2008 -- amends Ohio’s Civil Rights Act at Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02 et seq. to include “military status” as a protected category along with race, sex, age, disability, etc.
Interestingly, “military status” seems to indicate the person’s current status (rather than veteran status) and is defined in the statute as “a person's status in ‘service in the uniformed services’ as defined in section 5903.01 of the Revised Code. Such status is defined at Ohio Revised Code § 5903 as “the performance of duty, on a voluntary or involuntary basis, in a uniformed service, . . . and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty for training, full-time national guard duty, and performance of duty or training by a member of the Ohio organized militia pursuant to Chapter 5923 of the Revised Code” and also includes “the period of time for which a person is absent from a position of public or private employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to perform any duty described in this division.” “The ‘uniformed services’ means the armed forces, the Ohio organized militia when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, or full-time national guard duty, the commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons designated by the president of the United States in time of war or emergency.”
Ohio’s Veteran Package seems to have created some unintended consequences. Among them, employers may no longer be able to prefer members of the military for employment since Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02(E) prohibits an employer from asking any job applicant -- on an application or in an interview – about his or her military status “[e]xcept where based on a bona fide occupational qualification certified in advance by the [Ohio Civil Rights] [C]omission.” The same is true of making any records of the military status of applicants. Employers are similarly prohibited from expressing a preference for members of the military in help-wanted ads.
New Ohio Revised Code § 4112.023 specifically incorporates the decision of Fisher v. Peters, 249 F.3d 433 (6th Cir. 2001) by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals “which held that if a person's civilian job is inherently military, the person must pursue military, rather than civilian, channels when pursuing employment discrimination claims, shall be applied when construing the prohibitions contained in this chapter against discrimination on the basis of a person's military status.”
As of today’s posting, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission had not made a new poster available for employers which includes the new statutory language. (Free posters are generally available online from the Commission at http://crc.ohio.gov/pdf/OCRCFEPPoster04-07.pdf). However, the Commission’s delay should not stop employers from amending their own internal employment policies to reflect the new change in the law.
Insomniacs may read the new legislation in full at : http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_372
NOTICE: This summary is designed merely to inform and alert you of recent legal developments. It does not constitute legal advice and does not apply to any particular situation because different facts could lead to different results. Information here can change or be amended without notice. Readers should not act upon this information without legal advice. If you have any questions about anything you have read, you should consult with or retain an employment attorney.
