Ohio Handbook Addendum

A national handbook will promise a next-day final check, ban guns in every car on the lot, and skip the payday schedule. Ohio does not work that way.

Keep the national book. Paste this under it for people who work here. It is an overlay, not a second handbook.

Federal law stays put. Do not rewrite Title VII, the ADA, the PWFA, the PUMP Act, the FMLA, or WARN here.

Ohio does not give adults a meal break, statewide paid sick leave, or a right to the personnel file. Pregnancy is equal treatment. Religion is no-discrimination. Do not write a state pregnancy or religious accommodation duty.

Replace the brackets. Then paste.

1. At-will employment

   [Company] employs at will. Either you or [Company] may end the employment at any time, with or without cause or notice, unless a written agreement signed by [title] says otherwise. This handbook is not a contract. No manager may change at-will status by an oral promise.

2. Equal employment

   [Company] does not discriminate in hiring, discharge, tenure, or terms of work because of race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry. Pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions are treated the same as other conditions that similarly affect a person’s ability to work.

3. Disability accommodation

   [Company] will make a reasonable accommodation to the disability of an employee or applicant unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the conduct of the business.

4. Harassment and complaints

   [Company] does not tolerate harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry. Report it to [Human Resources / your supervisor / title]. [Company] will look into it. You may also file a charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. [Company] will not retaliate against you for a complaint.

5. Pay

   [Company] pays on a [weekly / biweekly / semimonthly] schedule. If pay is twice a month, wages earned through the 15th are paid by the first of the next month, and wages earned after the 15th are paid by the 15th of the next month. [Company] will give you a written or electronic earnings statement, or access to one, on each payday.

   On a written request that reasonably specifies the information, [Company] will give you — or your union representative, attorney, parent, guardian, or legal custodian if you specifically authorize that person — your own wage and hour record: name, address, occupation, pay rate, hours worked each day, and amounts paid. There is no charge. [Company] will provide it within 30 business days unless you and [Company] agree otherwise or that deadline would cause hardship, in which case [Company] will provide it as soon as practicable.

   [Company] will not pay you less than another employee for equal work on jobs requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility, performed under similar conditions, because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry. A difference based on seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production, or any factor other than those traits is permitted.

6. Medical reports

   On written request, [Company] will give you or your designated representative a copy of any medical report about you from an exam or test [Company] required as a condition of employment, or from a work-related injury or disease. Former employees have the same right. If a clinician concludes the record would cause serious medical harm, the copy goes to a clinician you name in writing. [Company] may charge the copy cost.

7. Weapons

   [Company] prohibits firearms, ammunition, and other weapons on its premises and property, including in motor vehicles [Company] owns.

   That prohibition does not apply to a person who holds a valid concealed-handgun license and who transports or stores a firearm or ammunition in that person’s privately owned motor vehicle, when both of these are true: each firearm and all ammunition remains inside the vehicle while the person is physically present in it, or is locked in the trunk, glove box, or another enclosed compartment or container in or on that vehicle; and the vehicle is in a location where it is otherwise permitted.

8. Drugs, alcohol, and marijuana

   [Company] maintains a drug-free workplace. [Company] may prohibit the use, possession, or distribution of alcohol, illegal drugs, and marijuana, including marijuana that is legal under Ohio law. [Company] may test. A positive test, impairment at work, or any other violation of this policy may result in discipline, up to and including discharge. Ohio’s legalization of marijuana does not require [Company] to accommodate marijuana use.

9. Jury duty

   If you are a permanent employee summoned as a juror, [Company] will not discharge you, threaten discharge, or take discipline that could lead to discharge, if you give reasonable notice before service and you are out for actual jury service. [Company] will not require or request vacation, annual, or sick leave for the summons, selection, or service. Jury service is unpaid unless [Company] says otherwise in writing.

10. Witness and subpoena leave

    If you lose regular work time because you attend a criminal proceeding, a grand jury, or a juvenile-court proceeding under a subpoena, [Company] will not discharge, threaten, or otherwise punish you for that time. The leave is unpaid, except that [Company] will not decrease or withhold pay when the proceeding is about an offense against [Company] or an offense involving you in the course of your employment.

11. Military family leave

    Once each calendar year, an eligible employee may take unpaid military family leave of up to 10 days or 80 hours, whichever is less. You are eligible if you have worked 12 consecutive months and at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave; you are the parent, spouse, or a person who has or had legal custody of a member of the uniformed services who is called to active duty longer than 30 days or who is injured, wounded, or hospitalized while on active duty; and you have no other available leave except sick leave or disability leave.

    Give 14 days’ notice of a call-up, or two days’ notice of an injury. No notice is required if the injury is critical or life-threatening. This leave may begin no more than two weeks before the deployment date and may end no more than one week after it. [Company] will continue benefits on the usual cost-share and restore you to the same or an equivalent position. [Company] may require military certification.

12. Whistleblower reports

    If, in the course of your work, you become aware of a violation of a state or federal statute or a political-subdivision ordinance or regulation that [Company] has authority to correct, and you reasonably believe the violation is a criminal offense likely to cause an imminent risk of physical harm or a hazard to public health or safety, a felony, or an improper solicitation for a contribution, notify your supervisor or another responsible officer orally. Then file a written report with enough detail to identify and describe the violation. [Company] will have 24 hours after the earlier of your oral notice or receipt of the written report to correct the problem or make a reasonable good-faith effort. [Company] will not discipline you for a report this section authorizes.

    This procedure is the path Ohio uses for the reports described above. It does not limit any other report the law already lets you make, including to a government agency, and it does not limit concerted activity.

13. Workers’ compensation

    [Company] will not discharge, demote, reassign, or take punitive action against you because you filed a workers’ compensation claim, or because you instituted, pursued, or testified in a workers’ compensation proceeding, for an injury or occupational disease that occurred in the course of and arising out of your work for [Company].

14. Layoffs

    Mass layoffs and plant closings may also require notice under Ohio law, in addition to federal WARN.

15. Recording

    [Company] prohibits audio or video recording of workplace conversations, meetings, or premises without prior written approval from [Human Resources / title], except as required by law or as authorized for a specific business purpose. This is a workplace rule. It is not a statement of Ohio criminal law.

Use note

This is a paste-ready overlay for in-house counsel and the HR lead who will drop it in. It is general information, not legal advice. It is not a substitute for the Ohio Revised Code, the Ohio Administrative Code, or counsel on the shop you actually have. As of 21 August 2026.

The overlay does not name the statutes in the clauses. The rules it rests on: R.C. 4112.01 and 4112.02 (classes, including military status and ancestry; pregnancy as equal treatment; disability); O.A.C. 4112-5-08 (disability accommodation); R.C. 4112.051 and 4112.052 (OCRC charge); R.C. 4113.15 (paydays); R.C. 4113.14 (pay stubs); R.C. 4111.14 (wage-record access); R.C. 4111.17 (equal pay — race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, ancestry); R.C. 4113.23 (medical reports); R.C. 2923.1210 and 2923.126 (locked privately owned vehicle for a valid CHL holder; employer-owned vehicles stay on the premises rule); R.C. 3796.28 (marijuana — no duty to accommodate; testing and discipline permitted); R.C. 2313.19 (jury); R.C. 2945.451, 2939.121, and 2151.211 (subpoena attendance); R.C. 5906.01–.03 (military family leave); R.C. 4113.52 (whistleblower — oral, then written, then 24 hours); R.C. 4123.90 (workers’ compensation); R.C. 4113.31 (state layoff notice, in force 30 September 2025); R.C. 2933.52 (one-party consent); and R.C. 4113.85 (hours and fringe benefits left to policy except where a statute says otherwise). At-will is common law. Military family leave reaches employers with 50 or more employees.

Primary sources: R.C. 4112.02 · O.A.C. 4112-5-08 · R.C. 4112.051 · R.C. 4113.15 · R.C. 4113.14 · R.C. 4111.14 · R.C. 4111.17 · R.C. 4113.23 · R.C. 2923.1210 · R.C. 2923.126 · R.C. 3796.28 · R.C. 2313.19 · R.C. 2945.451 · R.C. 5906.02 · R.C. 4113.52 · R.C. 4123.90 · R.C. 4113.31 · R.C. 2933.52 · R.C. 4113.85 · Wiles, 2002-Ohio-3994