In January 2025, Governor Mike DeWine signed more than two dozen bills into law. These bills spanned a wide array of topics, from changes to Ohio’s Public Records Law to updating penalties for certain criminal offenses. Of these newly enacted laws, employers may be particularly interested in two specific items.
The Paystub Protection Act
House Bill 106, dubbed the Paystub Protection Act, enacts Section 4113.14 of the Ohio Revised Code. The Act requires employers to provide its employees with a statement of the employee’s wages and deductions for each pay period. Those statements must include the employee’s name and address, the employer’s name, the total gross wages and net wages earned by the employee over that pay period, the amount and reason for each deduction from the employee’s wages, the dates of the pay period and payday, and, for hourly employees, the total number of hours worked during the pay period, the hourly wage for the employee, and any hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Violations of this act do not carry legal liability alone, but employers should nevertheless ensure that their payroll practices comply with the Act’s requirements.The Uniform Public Expression Protection Act
Senate Bill 237, also known as the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, enacts Chapter 2747 of the Ohio Revised Code. The new Chapter provides immunity from lawsuits based on a person’s constitutionally protected speech, assembly, association, and press on matters of public concern. Public employers should take special note of these new protections, as the law also applies to communications made in legislative, executive, or administrative proceedings. The extent of these protections is not yet known, and the outer limits of these protections will likely be the subject of litigation in the coming years. Employers may be able to invoke these protections in certain actions to receive an early dismissal of cases against them. While these protections do not apply to every claim asserted against an employer, the Act provides necessary safeguards against the abuse of the legal process.*Ken Hurley represents public and private employers in all facets of labor and employment law. If you have questions about these changes to Ohio law or any employment or labor law questions, please contact Ken at kjh@zrlaw.com or (614) 224-4411.