Last week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a law making some significant changes to the overtime exemption rules in the Buckeye State. SB47, which the legislature passed last month, exempts certain activities from overtime pay if they are preliminary or postliminary to the principal word activities. For example, traveling to or from the actual place of the principal work activity will no longer be automatically eligible for overtime pay. Likewise, activities requiring insubstantial or insignificant amounts of time beyond the employee’s scheduled working hours, however the exemptions do not apply in other instances, such as when the employee is doing the work at the specific direction, or the employee performs the activity during the regular workday or during prescribed hours. Finally, the new law also applies some specific restrictions on the ability of an employee to join a class action or collective action lawsuit against the employer. No longer will employees be able to rely on the opt-out structure generally used in class actions rather, they will henceforth need to obtain affirmative support from the broader group of employees involved in the action in order to participate in the ongoing lawsuit. The law will take full effect on July 6, 2022.