When Ohio Governor DeWine signed Senate Bill 47 into effect on April 6, he handed employers a big win by not only exempting overtime pay for commuting and other off-hours work but also requiring workers to affirmatively “opt in” to join costly class and collective actions for overtime pay. The new law, which explicitly adopts sections 2 and 4 of the Portal-to-Portal Act amendments to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), will take effect on July 6, 2022. What do you need to know about these welcome changes and what should you do to prepare?

Portal to Portal Act

SB 47’s adoption of the Portal-to-Portal Act clarifies the compensability of certain activities under Ohio state law. In that regard, Ohio employers will now be off the hook when it comes to paying overtime wages to an employee for any time spent:

• Walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities that the employee is employed to perform;
• Performing activities that are preliminary to or postliminary to the principal activity or activities; or
• Performing activities requiring insubstantial or insignificant periods of time beyond the employee's scheduled working hours (i.e., de minimis time).

The law applies where any of these activities occur on any workday before the employee begins, or after the employee ends, the principal activity. However, preliminary or postliminary activities that are not exempt from overtime wages – meaning, Ohio employers...

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