Ohio Code 4167.06 – Right to refuse to work under unsafe conditions
(A) A public employee acting in good faith has the right to refuse to work under conditions that the public employee reasonably believes present an imminent danger of death or serious harm to the public employee, provided that such conditions are not such as normally exist for or reasonably might be expected to occur in the occupation of the public employee. A public employer shall not discriminate against a public employee for a good faith refusal to perform assigned tasks if the public employee has requested that the public employer correct the hazardous conditions but the conditions remain uncorrected, there was insufficient time to eliminate the danger by resorting to the enforcement methods provided in this chapter, and the danger was one that a reasonable person under the circumstances then confronting the public employee would conclude is an imminent danger of death or serious physical harm to the public employee. A public employee who has refused in good faith to perform assigned tasks and who has not been reassigned to other tasks by the public employer shall, in addition to retaining a right to continued employment, receive full compensation for the tasks that would have been performed. If the public employer reassigns the public employee, the public employer shall pay the public employee’s full compensation as if the public employee were not reassigned.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4167.06
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Public employee: means any individual who engages to furnish services subject to the direction and control of a public employer, including those individuals working for a private employer who has contracted with a public employer and over whom the national labor relations board has declined jurisdiction. See Ohio Code 4167.01
- Public employer: means any of the following:
(1) The state and its instrumentalities;
(2) Any political subdivisions and their instrumentalities, including any county, county hospital, municipal corporation, city, village, township, park district, school district, state institution of higher learning, public or special district, state agency, authority, commission, or board;
(3) Any other branch of public employment not mentioned in division (A)(1) or (2) of this section. See Ohio Code 4167.01
(B) A public employee who exercises the right to refuse to work under division (A) of this section shall notify by a written statement that is signed by the public employee, as soon as practicable after exercising that right, the administrator of workers’ compensation of the condition that presents an imminent danger of death or serious harm to the public employee. Upon receipt of the notification, the administrator or the administrator’s designee immediately shall inspect the premises of the public employer. The administrator and the administrator’s designee shall comply with section 4167.10 of the Revised Code in conducting the inspection and investigation and in issuing orders and citations.
(C) A public employee who refuses to perform assigned tasks under division (A) of this section and fails to meet all of the conditions set forth in that division for the refusal is subject to any disciplinary action provided by law or agreement between the public employer and public employee for a refusal to work, including, but not limited to, suspension, nonpayment of wages for the duration of the refusal to work, and discharge.