Federal & State Regulations | Recordkeeping - Ohio | J. J. Keller® Compliance Network

State Info

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

Federal

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to allow employees access to their personnel files. This access is generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee’s representative). However, while federal law does not, some state laws require employers to allow employees access to their files. Employers need to comply with the state laws.

Federal OSHA requires that employers must allow employees and their designated representatives to inspect and/or copy records pertaining to exposure to hazardous substances. Access must be provided in a reasonable time, place, and manner. Access must be provided within 15 days working days. No costs may be incurred for the first provision, but subsequent provisions may be charged reasonable, nondiscriminatory administrative costs.

Employees and former employees must be guaranteed access to their individual OSHA 301 forms. Employee representatives will be provided access to the “information about the case” section of the OSHA 301 form in establishments where they represent employees.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires employers to allow employees to inspect and/or obtain a copy of any of their own protected health information that is used to make decisions about them. Employers must provide access within 30 days of receiving a request if the information is maintained or accessible onsite. If not, employers have 60 days to act. Employers must arrange for a mutually convenient time and place for employee access. Employers may charge reasonable, cost-based fees for copying information, but not for retrieving or handling the information or processing a request.

State

Records to be kept on file
Wage and Hour/Payroll	Wage/hour Employers must keep certain records for employees subject to the state's minimum wage law for three years. The records must include the following information with respect to each employee: Name, Address, Occupation, Rate of pay Amount paid each pay period, and Hours worked each day and each workweek. Ohio Revised Code §§4111.08, 4111.14
	Deductions An employer withholding a permissible payroll deductions must maintain complete records of the wages withheld, including any and all receipts for donations, contributions, fees, and dues paid on behalf of the employee, from the deductions withheld by the employer. Ohio Administrative Code §4101:9-4-07(F)
	Public contractors' records Contractors and subcontractors working on public works projects shall keep a certified copy of their payroll records. The payroll records required must contain for each employee paid: Any wages, The employee’s name, Current address, Social Security number, Number of hours worked during each day of the pay periods covered and the total for each week, The employee’s hourly rate of pay, The employee’s job classification, Fringe payments, Deductions from the employee’s wages, and A chronological listing of all hours worked on all projects throughout the term of the public improvement. Additionally, if an employer performs both prevailing wage work and non-prevailing wage work, the records must be capable of being segregated. The employer may segregate such records on an hourly, daily, weekly, work shift, or project basis. These records may not be destroyed or removed from the state for the period of one year following the completion of the public improvement in connection with which the records are made. Ohio Revised Code §4115.07, Ohio Administrative Code §4101:9-4-21
	Unemployment To comply with unemployment law, employers must maintain certain employment and payroll records for five years after the calendar year in which the remuneration with respect to such worker was paid. The records must show, with reference to each individual in employment, the following: Name and address; Social security account number; The amount of gross earnings for each pay period before deductions for any purpose; The date of payment and the amount of wages paid with respect to each separate pay period; The date or dates on which services were performed for such employer; The dates hired or rehired or returned to work after temporary layoff; The date on which services were terminated and the cause of such termination; The time lost due to being unavailable for work; The character of the services performed by the individual; A division between covered and excluded employment, when both such services appear in the same pay period; and The cash value of any remuneration in lieu of or in addition to cash wages. The records must contain memoranda to establish the extent to which the employer is liable for contributions or payments in lieu of contributions. Ohio Revised Code §4141.18; Ohio Administrative Code §§4141-23-01, 4141-23-02
Accessible Records	Medical reports Upon written request, employers must provide employees, former employees, or their designated representatives a copy of any medical report pertaining to the individual making the request. This requirement pertains 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. The employer may require the employee to pay the cost of furnishing copies, but cannot charge more than 25 cents for each page of a report. Ohio Revised Code §4113.23
	Wage/hour Employers must provide information required to be kept under the state's minimum wage law without charge to an employee or person acting on behalf of an employee upon request. This information includes the specific employee's: Name, Address, Occupation, Pay rate, Hours worked for each day worked, and Amount paid. Employers are not required to provide information on the hours worked for each day worked by individuals for whom an employer is not required to keep that information under the Fair Labor Standards Act or individuals who are not subject to the state's overtime pay requirements. A person “acting on behalf of an employee” must be specifically authorized by an employee in order to make a request for that employee’s information. A person “acting on behalf of an employee” means a person acting on behalf of an employee as any of the following: The certified or legally recognized collective bargaining representative for that employee; The employee’s attorney; or The employee’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian. Ohio Revised Code §4111.14
	Toxic material exposure Public employers must maintain accurate records of employee exposure to potentially toxic materials, carcinogenic materials, and harmful physical agents that are required to be monitored or measured. Public employees or public employee representatives are entitled to the opportunity to observe the monitoring or measuring, and to have access on request to the records thereof. Additionally, public employees or public employee representatives must have an opportunity to participate in and to undertake their own monitoring or measuring. Each current or former public employee is entitled to have access to the records that indicate their own exposure to toxic materials, carcinogenic materials, or harmful agents. Ohio Revised Code §4167.11(B)(3)
	Public employees Public employees' personnel records are open to the general public under the Ohio Public Records Act. Upon request, all public records responsive to the request shall be promptly prepared and made available for inspection to any person at all reasonable times during regular business hours. Upon request, a public office or person responsible for public records shall make copies of the requested public record available at cost and within a reasonable period of time. The public office or person responsible for the record may require the requestor to pay in advance the cost involved in providing the copy of the public record in accordance with the choice made by the person seeking the copy under this division. The public office or the person responsible for the public record shall permit that person to choose to have the public record duplicated upon paper, upon the same medium upon which the public office or person responsible for the public record keeps it, or upon any other medium upon which the public office or person responsible for the public record determines that it reasonably can be duplicated. The public office or person responsible for the public record is not required to allow the person seeking a copy of the record to make the copies. Sending copies A public office or person responsible for public records shall transmit a copy of a public record to any person by United States mail or by any other means of delivery or transmission within a reasonable period of time after receiving the request for the copy. The public office or person responsible for the public record may require the person making the request to pay in advance the cost of postage if the copy is transmitted by mail or otherwise, and to pay in advance the costs incurred for other supplies used in the mailing, delivery, or transmission. Limit on number of requests A public office may limit the number of records requested by a person that the office will transmit by United States mail to 10 per month, unless the person certifies to the office in writing that the person does not intend to use or forward the requested records, or the information contained in them, for commercial purposes. Non-public information If a public record contains information that is exempt from the duty to permit public inspection or to copy the public record, the public office or the person responsible for the public record shall make available all of the information within the public record that is not exempt. When making that public record available for public inspection or copying that public record, the public office or the person responsible for the public record shall notify the requester of any redaction or make the redaction plainly visible. A redaction shall be deemed a denial of a request to inspect or copy the redacted information, except if federal or state law authorizes or requires a public office to make the redaction. Denial of record inspection If a request is ultimately denied, in part or in whole, the public office or the person responsible for the requested public record shall provide the requester with an explanation, including legal authority, setting forth why the request was denied. If the initial request was provided in writing, the explanation also shall be provided to the requester in writing. Ohio Revised Code §149.43
	Employee dispute of information If a public employee disputes the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of personal information that pertains to him or her, the employee may request the public agency investigate the current status of the information. The agency shall, within a reasonable time, but not later than 90 days after receiving the request, make a reasonable investigation and notify the disputant of the results of the investigation and of the action that the agency plans to take with respect to the disputed information. The agency shall delete any information that it cannot verify or that it finds to be inaccurate. If, after an agency’s determination, the disputant is not satisfied, the agency shall do either of the following: Permit the disputant to include in the file a brief statement of his or her position on the disputed information (the agency may limit the statement to 100 words if the agency assists the disputant to write a clear summary of the dispute); or Permit the disputant to include in the file a notation that the disputant protests that the information is inaccurate, irrelevant, outdated, or incomplete. The agency shall maintain a copy of the disputant’s statement of the dispute. The agency may limit the statement to 100 words if the agency assists the disputant to write a clear summary of the dispute. The agency shall include the statement or notation in any subsequent transfer, report, or dissemination of the disputed information and may include a statement by the agency that it has reasonable grounds to believe that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant, and of the reasons for its belief. Following any deletion of information found to be inaccurate, or if a statement of dispute was filed by the disputant, the agency shall, at the written request of the disputant, furnish notification that the information has been deleted, or furnish a copy of the disputant’s statement of the dispute, to any person specifically designated by the employee. The agency shall clearly and conspicuously disclose to the disputant that he has the right to make such a request to the agency. Ohio Revised Code §1347.09
Inaccessible Records	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, the physician 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. Ohio Revised Code §4113.23(A)
Inaccessible Records	Public employees' open personnel records do not include: Medical records (these requirements are covered by Ohio Revised Code §4113.23); Peace officer, parole officer, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney, correctional employee, youth services employee, firefighter, EMT, or investigator of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation residential and familial information; Test materials, examinations, or evaluation tools used in an examination for licensure as a nursing home administrator; Confidential investigations by law enforcement; Records containing confidential information; Intellectual property records; nor Trade secrets. Ohio Revised Code §149.43