2024 Ohio Labor & Employment Year End Review

Akron, Ohio (January 15, 2025) - While 2024 was a quiet year in the Buckeye State on the labor and employment front, there were a few developments worth noting.

Legalized Cannabis for Recreational Use

In November of 2024, Ohio became the 24th state to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use through the passage of Issue 2. The immediate impact on employers in this state is negligible, as the new law closely mirrors the existing law that governs the use of medical marijuana.

While it is no longer unlawful for individuals to use the drug, employers are not required to allow or accommodate an employee’s recreational use and can still make employment decisions based on an applicant or employee’s use. Employers may continue to establish and enforce drug testing, drug free workplace rules, or zero tolerance drug policies, and discharging an employee for the use of cannabis is still considered a discharge for “just cause.”

That said, the passage of Issue 2 will require many employers to rethink their drug testing policies. For example, employers who have workforces in those states with employee-friendly laws on recreational use of cannabis will have to decide whether to implement uniform policies based on the least restrictive state’s laws or whether to implement state-specific policies. Furthermore, employers may be forced to wrestle with such issues as whether more restrictive policies render them less competitive in the labor market, or whether less restrictive policies increase their risk and liability.

In short, the passage of Issue 2 did not require employers to scramble to make any changes; however, they should still give though to whether they should be making any changes. Employers governed by federal regulations or laws governing safety-sensitive positions can continue operations as normal and will not have contend with some of these issues.

Minimum Wage Increase

2024 brought about a slight increase in the state’s minimum wage. The hourly rate for non-tipped employees went up to $10.45/hour (from $10.10/hour) and the wage for tipped employees went up to $5.25/hour (up from $5.05/hour).

However, as of January 1, 2025, the state minimum wage increased again to account for inflation to $10.70/hour for non-tipped employees and $5.35/hour for tipped employees. This will apply to employees of businesses with annual receipts of $394,000 (up from $385,000).

Employers should make sure they are displaying the current minimum wage poster in their workplaces (and should double check to make sure they are displaying all mandatory state and federal workplace posters while they are at it).

Columbus Salary History Inquiry Bans

The City of Columbus has joined the cities of Cincinnati and Toledo in enacting a salary history ban that makes it unlawful to ask about or use pay history in making hiring decisions.

Ordinance No. 0709-2023, which became effective in March of 2024, makes it unlawful for an employer to ask about or use pay history in making hiring decisions. The rationale for the ban is recognition of the fact that inquiries into pay history may perpetuate systemic discrimination that was experienced by employees in prior jobs and promotion of pay equality. The ordinance applies to employers with 15 or more employees.

There are certain exceptions. Employers can:

Consider and/or verify salary history if an applicant voluntarily, and without employer prompting, provides the employer with their salary history;
Inquire about a job applicant’s expectations for salary, benefits and other compensation, including unvested equity or deferred compensation that an applicant would give up by resigning their current employment;
Consider salary history information when considering a current employee for internal transfer or promotion;
Consider salary history information that an employer has knowledge of due to an applicant’s prior employment with that same employer within the past three years;
Act in accordance with any federal, state or local law that specifically authorizes the reliance on salary history to determine an employee’s compensation;
Inquire about objective measures of the job applicant’s past productivity, including with regard to revenue, sales and production reports;
Verify an applicant’s disclosure of nonsalary-related information in a pre-hire background check, so long as the employer does not rely solely on salary history information that happens to be disclosed on the background check report in determining the salary paid for the position to which the applicant has applied; and,
Communicate with applicants about pay rates and benefits set for the job by collective bargaining agreements.

Columbus’s Independent Contractor (or “Freelance”) Agreements

Finally, the City of Columbus enacted Ordinance No. 1016-2023, which requires employers to enter into written agreements with any “freelance worker” that specify the rate, method, and timing of compensation for all workers who will be paid $250 or more over the course of four months.

The purpose of the law is to ensure that independent contractors (or freelance workers) get paid and have a right of recovery if they are not paid.

For more information on these developments, contact the author of this alert. Visit our Labor & Employment Practice page for additional alerts in this area.

Author:

Kerri Keller, Partner