Stricter definition of ‘employee’ sought in Ohio

State Reps. Debbie Phillips and Denise Driehaus are stumping for the passage of a bill that would carve out a general uniform definition of employee for specified labor laws.
House Bill 347, also known as the Honest Employer Protection Act, would replace the definition of employee in the Minimum Fair Wages Standards law and the Industrial Commission and Bureau of Workers’ Compensation law with a new definition.
That new definition would be based on the recommendations of a multi-agency worker misclassification task force made up of the Ohio Attorney General’s office, the BWC, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and the Ohio Department of Taxation.
If enacted, the act would prohibit any person from requiring or requesting an individual enter into an agreement or sign a document that results in the misclassification of the individual as an independent contractor or otherwise does not accurately reflect the individual’s relationship with an employer.
The measure also would expand the definition of “employment” for the purposes of the unemployment compensation law as it relates to services provided by delivery drivers and specified salespersons.
It also seeks to remove the factor test used in the worker’s compensation law and the unemployment compensation law to determine whether an individual providing construction services is an employee for purposes of those laws.

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