Law regarding Ohio's wage payment law is located in the following sections of the Ohio Revised Code Annotated.

• 4113.15 Semimonthly payment of wages.
• 4113.16. Exemption invalid.
• 4113.17. Employee purchases.
• 4113.18. Employee purchases.
• 4113.19 Payment in scrip prohibited at higher prices; deductions from wages prohibited.
• 4113.41. Volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services volunteers

(A) Every individual, firm, partnership, association, or corporation doing business in this state shall, on or before the first day of each month, pay all its employees the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, pay such employees the wages earned by them during the last half of the preceding calendar month. If at any time of payment an employee is absent from his regular place of labor and does not receive his wages through an authorized representative, such person shall be entitled to said payment at any time thereafter upon demand upon the proper paymaster at the place where such wages are usually paid and where such pay is due. This section does not prohibit the daily or weekly payment of wages, the use of a longer time lapse that is customary to a given trade, profession or occupation, or establishment of a different time lapse by written contract or by operation of law.

(B) Where wages remain unpaid for thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday or, in the case where no regularly scheduled payday is applicable, for sixty days beyond the filing by the employee of a claim or for sixty days beyond the date of the agreement, award, or other act making wages payable and no contest court order or dispute of any wage claim including the assertion of a counterclaim exists accounting for nonpayment, the employer, in addition, as liquidated damages, is liable to the employee in an amount equal to six per cent of the amount of the claim still unpaid and not in contest or disputed or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater.

(C) In the absence of a contest, court order or dispute, an employer who is party to an agreement to pay or provide fringe benefits to an employee or to make any employee authorized deduction becomes a trustee of any funds required by such agreement to be paid to any person, organization, or governmental agency from the time that the duty to make such payment arises. No person shall, without reasonable justification or excuse for such failure, knowingly fail or refuse to pay to the appropriate person, organization, or governmental agency the amount necessary to provide the benefits or accomplish the purpose of any employee authorized deduction, within thirty days after the close of the pay period during which the employee earned or had deducted the amount of money necessary to pay for the fringe benefit or make any employee authorized deduction. A failure or refusal to pay, regardless of the number of employee pay accounts involved, constitutes one offense for the first delinquency of thirty days and a separate offense for each successive delinquency of thirty days.

(D) As used in this section:

(1) "Wage" means the net amount of money payable to an employee, including any guaranteed pay or reimbursement for expenses, less any federal, state, or local taxes withheld; any deductions made pursuant to a written agreement for the purpose of providing the employee with any fringe benefits; and any employee authorized deduction.

(2) "Fringe benefits" includes but is not limited to health, welfare, or retirement benefits, whether paid for entirely by the employee or on the basis of a joint employer-employee contribution, or vacation, separation, or holiday pay.

(3) "Employee authorized deduction" includes but is not limited to deductions for the purpose of: (a) purchase of United States savings bonds or corporate stocks or bonds, (b) a charitable contribution, (c) credit union savings or other regular savings program, or (d) repayment of a loan or other obligation.

4113.16. Exemption invalid.

No corporation, contractor, person, or partnership subject to section 4113.15 of the Revised Code shall, by a special contract with an employee or by other means, exempt itself from this section and section 4113.15 of the Revised Code, and no assignments of future wages, payable semimonthly under such sections are valid except as provided in section 1321.32 of the Revised Code.

4113.17. Employee purchases.

No person, firm, or corporation engaged in any enterprise in this state shall sell or procure for sale to its employees any article, product, or merchandise not of its own production or not handled in its regular course of trade, excepting meals, confections, tobacco products, and such specialized appliances, or supplies and equipment, as may be required in said enterprise for the employees' safety and health, or in the performance of their duties. This section does not prohibit or prevent a person, firm, or corporation engaged in industry or mining from owning and operating bona fide retail stores, or gasoline and service stations, conducted in whole or in part for the convenience or benefit of its employees. This section does not prohibit the sale by any person, firm, or corporation of any article which such person, firm, or corporation has purchased or acquired in connection with the operation of its business.

The doing of each act prohibited by this section constitutes a separate offense.

4113.18. Employee purchases.

No person shall compel, seek to compel, or attempt to coerce an employee of himself or another to purchase goods or supplies from a particular person, firm, or corporation.

4113.19 Payment in scrip prohibited at higher prices; deductions from wages prohibited.

No person shall sell goods or supplies to his employee, or pay such employee wages or a part thereof in goods or supplies, directly or through the intervention of scrip, orders, or other evidence of indebtedness, at higher prices than the reasonable or current market value in cash of such goods or supplies, or, without an express contract with his employee, deduct or retain the wages of such employee, or a part thereof, for wares, tools, or machinery destroyed or damaged.

4113.20. Double damages.

A person violating section 4113.18 or 4113.19 of the Revised Code is liable to the party aggrieved in double the amount of charges made for such wares, tools, and machinery, or for the amount received for such goods or supplies in excess of the reasonable or current market value in cash thereof.

4113.21. Employers required to pay cost of medical examination.

No employer shall require any prospective employee or applicant for employment to pay the cost of a medical examination required by the employer as a condition of employment.

As used in this section:

(A) "Employer" means any individual, partnership, trust, estate, joint-stock company, insurance company, common carrier, public utility, or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee, or the successor thereof, who has in employment three or more individuals at any one time within a calendar year.

(B) "Employee" means any person who may be permitted, required, or directed by any employer in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment.

Any employer who violates this section shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars for each violation. The bureau of workers' compensation and the public utilities commission shall enforce this section.

4113.23. Employer can require employee to pay reasonable costs.

(A) No employer or physician, other health care professional, hospital, or laboratory that contracts with the employer to provide medical information pertaining to employees shall refuse upon written request of an employee to furnish to the employee or former employee or their designated representative a copy of any medical report pertaining to the employee. The requirements of this section extend to any medical report arising out of any physical examination by a physician or other health care professional and any hospital or laboratory tests which examinations or tests are required by the employer as a condition of employment or arising out of any injury or disease related to the employee's employment. However, if a physician concludes that presentation of all or any part of an employee's medical record directly to the employee will result in serious medical harm to the employee, he shall so indicate on the medical record, in which case a copy thereof shall be given to a physician designated in writing by the employee.

(B) The employer may require the employee to pay the cost of furnishing copies of the medical reports described in division (A) of this section but in no case shall the employer charge more than twenty-five cents for each page of a report.

(C) As used in this section, "employer" has the same meaning as contained in the definition of that term found in section 4123.01 of the Revised Code.

(D) Any employer who refuses to furnish the reports to which an employee is entitled is guilty of a minor misdemeanor for each violation. The bureau of workers' compensation shall enforce this section.

4113.41. Volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services volunteers

(A) No employer shall terminate an employee who is a member of a volunteer fire department, or who is employed by a political subdivision of this state as a volunteer firefighter, or who is a volunteer provider of emergency medical services because that employee, when acting as a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer provider of emergency medical services, is absent from or late to the employee's employment in order to respond to an emergency prior to the time the employee is to report to work. An employer may charge any time that an employee who is a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer provider of emergency medical services loses from employment because of the employee's response to an emergency against the employee's regular pay.

(B) An employee who is a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency medical services shall do all of the following:

(1) Not later than thirty days after receiving certification as a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer provider of emergency services, submit to the employee's employer a written notification signed by the chief of the volunteer fire department with which the employee serves, or the medical director or chief administrator of the cooperating physician advisory board of the emergency medical organization with which the employee serves, to notify the employer of the employee's status as a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency services;

(2) Make every effort to notify the employee's employer that the employee may report late to or be absent from work due to the employee's dispatch to an emergency.

If notification of dispatch to an emergency cannot be made either due to the extreme circumstances of the emergency or the inability to contact the employer, then the employee shall submit to the employee's employer a written explanation from the chief of the volunteer fire department with which the employee serves, or the medical director or chief administrator of the cooperating physician advisory board of the emergency medical service organization with which the employee serves, as applicable, to explain why prior notice was not given.

(C) At the employer's request, an employee who loses time from the employee's employment to respond to an emergency shall provide the employer with a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department or the medical director or chief administrator of the cooperating physician advisory board of the emergency medical service organization, as applicable, stating that the employee responded to an emergency and listing the time of that response.

(D) An employee who is a member of a volunteer fire department, or who is employed by a political subdivision of this state as a volunteer firefighter, or who is a volunteer provider of emergency medical services shall notify that employee's employer when the employee's status as a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency medical services changes, including when the employee's status as a volunteer firefighter or volunteer provider of emergency medical services is terminated.

(E) If an employer purposely violates division (a) of this section, the employee may bring a civil action for reinstatement to the employee's former position of employment, payment of back wages, and full reinstatement of fringe benefits and seniority rights. an action to enforce this section shall be commenced within one year after the date of the violation in the court of common pleas of the county where the place of employment is located.

(F) As used in this section:

(1) "emergency" means going to, attending to, or coming from a fire, hazardous or toxic materials spill and cleanup, medical emergency, or other situation that poses an imminent threat of loss of life or property to which the fire department or provider of emergency medical services has been or later could be dispatched.

(2) "Emergency medical services" and "emergency medical service organization" have the same meanings as in Section 4765.01 of the revised code.

(3) "Volunteer firefighter" has the same meaning as in Section 146.01 of the revised code.

2113.04 Payment of wages of deceased employee without administration.

Any employer, including the state or a political subdivision, at any time after the death of his or its employee, may pay all wages or personal earnings due to the deceased employee to:

(A) the surviving spouse;

(B) any one or more of the children eighteen years of age or older; or

(C) the father or mother of the deceased employee, preference being given in the order named, without requiring letters testamentary or letters of administration to be issued upon the estate of the deceased employee, and without requiring an Ohio estate tax release where the wages or personal earnings do not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars. The payment of wages or personal earnings is a full discharge and release to the employer from any claim for the wages or personal earnings. If letters testamentary or letters of administration are thereafter issued upon the estate of the deceased employee, any person receiving payment of wages or personal earnings under this section is liable to the executor or administrator for the sum received by him.