High Court Decision Overrides Bargained Provision

In a recent Supreme Court of Ohio case, State ex rel. BF Goodrich Co. v. Indus. Commission of Ohio, the injured worker sought overtime compensation for the time she was in the employer’s light duty/restricted employee work program as a result of a workplace injury.

The terms of the program were determined by a collective-bargaining agreement that contained a provision that employees on light duty outside of their own job classification are not eligible for overtime.

Parties escalated the case through the judicial system until the high court eventually held that the claimant was eligible for wage-loss compensation because 1) she suffered a reduction in wages during the periods of time at issue, and 2) her placement in the light-duty program was causally related to the allowed conditions of her claims.

Read more from OMA counsel, Sue Wetzel, of Bricker & Eckler.  12/29/2016