Ohio Court of Appeals Rejects Retaliation Claim Based on FLSA and Ohio’s Prompt Wage Payment Act

Last week, the Ohio Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County rejected the claim of a home health worker that she was fired for complaining about not receiving overtime pay or paid vacation. Hurd v. Blossom 24 Hour We Care Ctr., Inc., 2012-Ohio-3465. The Court found that the plaintiff was exempt under the companionship exemption from overtime pay under the FLSA and, thus, was not protected by the FLSA for complaining about a failure to pay overtime pay. Interestingly, the Court found the plaintiff’s good faith belief in making the complaint was irrelevant because the “good faith belief standard” only applied in Title VII claims. It also found that she was similarly unprotected for complaining about the failure to provide her with a paid vacation because she had a pending breach of contract action covering that very issue. Ohio law does not require employers to provide a paid vacation and without showing the existence of a prior agreement for paid vacation, she could not prevail on a wage payment claim. Therefore, a public policy claim was unnecessary in this case, according to the Court. What seemed to be a more significant motivating factor was that the employer apparently had a legitimate reason to terminate her employment based on a prior criminal record and her failure to timely submit to a background check.

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