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On June 24, 2022, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill 447 (“H.B. 447”), bringing a long-anticipated amendment to Ohio’s law regarding eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits when an employee sustains an injury when working for his/her employer in the employee’s home.<a href="#footnote1">[1]</a> As provided in Ohio Revised Code §4123.01(C), and subject to certain exceptions, an employee’s injury is compensable in the workers’ compensation system in Ohio when that injury was received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee's employment. Prior to this enactment of H.B. 447, Ohio Revised Code §4123.01(C) provided four exclusions for injuries that might otherwise be compensable under workers’ compensation when sustained in the course of, and arising out of, the employee’s employment namely:

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H.B. 447 amends Ohio Revised Code §4123.01(C) to provide a fifth exclusion to the definition of “injury” for an “[i]njury or disability sustained by an employee who performs the employee's duties in a work area that is located within the employee's home and that is separate and distinct from the location of the employer[.]” H.B. 447 does permit, however, an injury or disability sustained at home to be compensable under workers’ compensation if all of the following apply:

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Prior to the enactment of H.B. 447, an injury sustained in the course of, and arising out of one’s employment when working at one’s home was treated in the same way, from a workers’ compensation compensability context, as an injury sustained at the employer’s workplace. H.B. 447 limits the compensability under workers’ compensation for work-from-home injuries. For instance, while the standard definition for “injury” under the statute requires the injury to occur “in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee’s employment,” the work-from-home-injury will only meet the statutory definition of an “injury” if it occurred “in the course of activity undertaken by the employee for the exclusive benefit of the employer” and was caused by a “special hazard” of the employee’s employment activity. This requirement will present a difficult hurdle for an employee to overcome when seeking workers’ compensation benefits for an injury sustained when working at his/her home.

The types of injuries that will ultimately be compensable in the context of workers’ compensation in Ohio for an employee when working at home are unclear, and the determination will likely be very fact-specific. As such, employers should ensure that they have implemented policies for job expectations and requirements for employees working remotely and have processes in place for reporting and investigating injuries sustained by employees working remotely from home or other locations.

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Nancy M. Barnes 216.566.5578 <a href="mailto:Nancy.Barnes@ThompsonHine.com">Nancy.Barnes@ThompsonHine.com</a>

Scott Young 513.352.6617 <a href="mailto:Scott.Young@ThompsonHine.com">Scott.Young@ThompsonHine.com</a>

Bret W. Vetter 513.352.6502 <a href="mailto:Bret.Vetter@ThompsonHine.com">Bret.Vetter@ThompsonHine.com</a>

or any other member of our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thompsonhine.com/services/labor-amp-employment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Labor &amp; Employment</a>&nbsp;group.

This advisory bulletin may be reproduced, in whole or in part, with the prior permission of Thompson Hine LLP and acknowledgment of its source and copyright. This publication is intended to inform clients about legal matters of current interest. It is not intended as legal advice. Readers should not act upon the information contained in it without professional counsel.

This document may be considered attorney advertising in some jurisdictions.

[1] <a href="https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/solarapi/v1/general_assembly_134/bills/hb447/EN/05/hb447_05_EN?format=pdf">hb447_05_EN (state.oh.us)</a>

Ohio House Bill 447 to Impact Workers’ Compensation and Employees Working from Home

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