It may not be all that businesses need, but there’s many positives to be drawn from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signing HB 606 into law just over one week ago. The “Good Samaritan Expansion Bill”, as the legislation is known, provides employers with state-law immunity from civil actions brought by customers, employees or others for…
Read More »With so much of the nation’s focus these past three months on the COVID-19 pandemic – and more recently, protests over the tragic killing of George Floyd, state and local issues that can impact your business could easily be overlooked. In the hope of keeping you informed of some of those possible oversights, we advise…
Read More »Following up on a hearing we told you about last week in Small Regular, the Ohio Board of Workers Compensation gave its blessing to a proposal of Governor Michael DeWine that the Board pay out employer dividends in the amount of $1.6 billion as a vehicle to help the state’s business community deal with the…
Read More »Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has asked the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) to pay out employer dividends in the amount of $1.6 billion as a means to help the state’s business community survive the economic disaster resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. BWC reported that the $1.6 billion is the same amount as was paid…
Read More »On January 28, the CEO and administrator of the Ohio Workers Compensation Commission, Stephanie McCloud, submitted a proposal reducing employer premiums for Workers Compensation insurance by an aggregate $132 million for Fiscal Year 2021. The Commission Board of Directors will decide upon the rate reduction proposal at its February 28 meeting. The 13% rate reduction…
Read More »A constitutional amendment pending in Ohio moved two notches closer to the ballot this week as Attorney General David Yost approved the summary language of the proposal and state election officials certified the initial 1,000 voter signatures. As we advised just last week, the “Raise the Wage Ohio Amendment” would increase the current $8.70 state…
Read More »Union advocates in Ohio are focusing on increasing the state minimum wage of $8.70 per hour through a ballot initiative this fall. Ohioans for Raising the Wage, a group comprised of SEIU members along with others from the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Unity Coalition and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, have filed a petition with…
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We don’t need to tell you about the labor shortage in QSR restaurants. It’s probably one of the things that keeps you up at night. It’s definitely an issue for Alex Fernandez, who owns one Dunkin’ shop in St. John’s County, Florida, and five other locations in neighboring counties. With an unemployment rate of 2.8…
Read More »Legislation has passed the Ohio state senate that exempts franchisors from joint employer status. Still subject to one final concurrence vote in the House before it is sent to the Governor for his signature, House bill 494 specifically exempts franchisors from any liability as a joint employer unless the franchisor specifically adopts joint employer status…
Read More »They haven’t completely gone after straws yet, but the push to ban single use plastic bags kicks into high gear in Boston this week with the city plastic bag ban becoming effective one week from today, on December 14. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed the measure back in December of last year after the city…
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