Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 47 (SB 47) into law on April 6, 2022. SB 47 goes into effect on July 6, 2022 and includes new Ohio Revised Code § 4111.031, which limits an employer’s obligation to pay overtime for certain work-related tasks that occur outside of the workday. Section 4111.031 largely mirrors Sections 2 and 4 of the Portal to Portal Act of 1947, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and incorporates the FLSA’s “opt-in” requirement for individuals who seek to join a collective action involving state-law claims for failure to pay overtime wages, making both state-law claims for failure to pay overtime or minimum wage “opt-in” under the Ohio law.¹

Exceptions to Overtime Wages – and Some Caveats

The new O.R.C. § 4111.031 states that employers are not required to pay overtime wages for any time that employees spend on:

1. 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 (e.g., commuting to and from work);
2. Activities that are preliminary to or postliminary to the principal activity or activities (e.g., showering after a shift, but before going home);
3. Activities requiring insubstantial or insignificant periods of time beyond the employee’s scheduled work hours (e.g., quickly checking email after hours).

However, the foregoing exclusion for “preliminary and postliminary” activities does not apply if the employee performs the tasks: (1)...

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