Ohio Code 4141.51 – Participation in SharedWork Ohio
(A) An employer who wishes to participate in the SharedWork Ohio program shall submit a plan to the director of job and family services in which the employer does all of the following:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4141.51
- Benefits: means money payments payable to an individual who has established benefit rights, as provided in this chapter, for loss of remuneration due to the individual's unemployment. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Contributions: means the money payments to the state unemployment compensation fund required of employers by section 4141. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Employer: means the state, its instrumentalities, its political subdivisions and their instrumentalities, Indian tribes, and any individual or type of organization including any partnership, limited liability company, association, trust, estate, joint-stock company, insurance company, or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee, or the successor thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person who subsequent to December 31, 1971, or in the case of political subdivisions or their instrumentalities, subsequent to December 31, 1973:
(a) Had in employment at least one individual, or in the case of a nonprofit organization, subsequent to December 31, 1973, had not less than four individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of twenty different calendar weeks, in either the current or the preceding calendar year whether or not the same individual was in employment in each such day; or
(b) Except for a nonprofit organization, had paid for service in employment wages of fifteen hundred dollars or more in any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year; or
(c) Had paid, subsequent to December 31, 1977, for employment in domestic service in a local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, cash remuneration of one thousand dollars or more in any calendar quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year, or had paid subsequent to December 31, 1977, for employment in domestic service in a private home cash remuneration of one thousand dollars in any calendar quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year:
(i) For the purposes of divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this section, there shall not be taken into account any wages paid to, or employment of, an individual performing domestic service as described in this division. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- United States: includes the states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Week: means the calendar week ending at midnight Saturday unless an equivalent week of seven consecutive calendar days is prescribed by the director. See Ohio Code 4141.01
(1) Identifies the participating employees by name, social security number, affected unit, and normal weekly hours of work;
(2) Describes the manner in which the employer will implement the requirements of the SharedWork Ohio program, including the proposed reduction percentage, which shall be between ten per cent and sixty per cent, and any temporary closure of the participating employer’s business for equipment maintenance or other similar circumstances that the employer knows may occur during the effective period of an approved plan;
(3) Includes a plan for giving advance notice, if feasible, to an employee whose normal weekly hours of work are to be reduced and, if advance notice is not feasible, an explanation of why that notice is not feasible;
(4) Includes a certification by the employer that the aggregate reduction in the number of hours worked by the employees of the employer is in lieu of layoffs and includes an estimate of the number of layoffs that would have occurred absent the ability to participate in the SharedWork Ohio program;
(5) Includes a certification by the employer that if the employer provides health benefits and retirement benefits under a defined benefit plan, as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 414(j), as amended, or contributions under a defined contribution plan as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 414(i), as amended, to any employee whose normal weekly hours of work are reduced under the program that such benefits will continue to be provided to an employee participating in the SharedWork Ohio program under the same terms and conditions as though the normal weekly hours of work of the employee had not been reduced or to the same extent as other employees not participating in the program;
(6) Permits eligible employees to participate, as appropriate, in training to enhance job skills approved by the director, including employer-sponsored training or worker training funded under the federal “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act,” 29 U.S.C. § 3101 et seq.;
(7) Includes any other information as required by the United States secretary of labor or the director under the rules the director adopts under section 4141.50 of the Revised Code;
(8) Includes an attestation by the employer that the terms of the written plan submitted by the employer and implementation of that plan are consistent with obligations of the employer under the applicable federal and state laws;
(9) Includes a certification by the employer that the employer will promptly notify the director of any change in the business that includes the sale or transfer of all or part of the business, and that the employer will notify any successor in interest to the employer’s business prior to the transfer of all or part of the business, of the existence of any approved shared work plan;
(10) Includes a certification by the employer that, as of the date the employer submits the plan, the employer is current on all reports and has paid all contributions, reimbursements, interest, and penalties due under this chapter;
(11) Includes an assurance from the employer that the employer will remain current on all employer reporting and payments of contributions, reimbursements, interest, and penalties as required by this chapter;
(12) Includes a certification by the employer that none of the participating employees are employed on a seasonal, temporary, or intermittent basis;
(13) Includes an assurance from the employer that the employer will not reduce a participating employee’s normal weekly hours of work by more than the reduction percentage, except in the event of a temporary closure of the employer’s business for equipment maintenance, or when the employee takes approved time off during the week with pay, and the combined work hours and paid leave hours equal the number of hours the employee would have worked under the plan.
(B) The director shall approve a shared work plan if an employer includes in the plan all of the information, certifications, and assurances required under division (A) of this section.
(C) The director shall approve or deny a shared work plan and shall send a written notice to the employer stating whether the director approved or denied the plan not later than ten days after the director receives the plan. If the director denies approval of a shared work plan, the director shall state the reasons for denying approval in the written notice sent to the employer.
(D) The director shall enforce the requirements of the SharedWork Ohio program in the same manner as the director enforces the requirements of this chapter, including under section 4141.40 of the Revised Code.
Last updated August 24, 2021 at 2:11 PM