New Employer Liability Exposure Removed in Final State Budget

Before the General Assembly completed work on the state budget Wednesday, the joint House and Senate conference committee removed a problematic provision that the Senate added just a week earlier. The provision created a new civil cause of action that could be used against businesses that attempted to restrict firearms in workplace parking lots.

It is currently illegal, under Ohio law, for an employer to prohibit any person with a valid concealed handgun license from properly storing such firearm and ammunition in his or her vehicle on the employer’s property.

The proposed civil cause of action would have subjected employers to potential compensatory damages and/or any equitable relief, including injunctive relief that a court may find appropriate. Further, if a plaintiff were successful in the cause of action, employers would have also been forced to pay court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. Instead the conference committee clarified that only injunctive relief is permissible.

OMA had signed onto this joint letter with co-members of the Ohio Alliance for Civil Justice to press elected leaders to remove the provisions. 6/29/2017