House Bill 106, the Paystub Protection Act, just recently went into effect April 9 and will require that employers provide detailed pay statements to employees on regular paydays. While employers may already be providing pay statements, there is a new level of detail required that may prompt changes for school paystubs and even require future changes in the state payroll system.

The Act requires that you provide each employee with a written or electronic pay statement that includes the employee’s earnings and deductions for each pay period, on the employer’s regular paydays.

This pay statement must also include:
1. The employee’s name;
2. The employee’s address;
3. The employer’s name;
4. The total gross wages earned by the employee during the pay period;
5. The total net wages paid to the employee for the pay period;
6. A listing of the amount and purpose of each addition to or deduction from the wages paid to the employee during the pay period;
7. The date the employee was paid and the pay period covered by that payment; and
8. For an employee who is paid on an hourly basis, all of the following information:

a. The total number of hours the employee worked in that pay period;
b. The hourly wage rate at which the employee was paid; and
c. The employee’s hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one workweek.

The Act gives a 10-day grace period if you fail to provide the pay statement on the employee’s payday. However, if you fail to provide the required paystub for more than 10 days after the employee requests their paystub, the employee may submit a report of the violation to the Ohio Director of Commerce. The Ohio Director of Commerce will investigate and may issue a written notice of violation to the district. Districts must then post the notice of violation for 10 days in a conspicuous place.

What does this mean for your district?

Districts should conduct a review of payroll processes to ensure that paystubs are consistently sent out on the district’s regular paydays, and that paystubs include the necessary details. If they do not, districts may want to review the requirements with your IT department for your billing software. Additionally, districts may need to make changes to how you toll and count employee leave. Contact an attorney at Ennis Britton if you have any questions or concerns about compliance with this Act.

https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_135/legislation/hb106/05_EN/pdf/

In their first formal advisory opinion of the year, the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC) expanded the definition of family member to include domestic partnerships. A “domestic partner” includes a person who is living with the public official or employee in a common law marital relationship or who is otherwise cohabiting with the public official. In this context, “cohabitate” means a romantic/intimate relationship. Following this expansion, the Commission’s definition of a “member of a public official’s family” includes but is not limited to: (1) grandparents; (2) parents and step-parents; (3) spouses; (4) children and step-children; (5) grandchildren; (6) siblings; (7) any person related by blood or marriage that resides in the same household as the public official; (8) and domestic partners.

Ohio’s Public Contract Law prohibits public officials from using their authority or influence to secure a contract in which they, a member of their family, or any of their business associates has an interest. Additionally, conflict of interest laws prohibit public officials from using their authority to secure anything of value for family members who are seeking employment with, or are employed by, the same public agency, and from soliciting or accepting anything of value that may manifest in a substantial and improper influence upon the public official.

These laws create several general family hiring restrictions. Notably, public officials cannot:

• Directly hire members of their family or vote to authorize the employment of a family member;
• Recommend, nominate, or use their position in any way to secure a job for a family member;
• Participate in a decision to give a family member a raise, promotion, job advancement, overtime pay or assignments, favorable performance evaluations, or other things of value related to employment; or
• Use their official position, formally or informally, to impact the decisions or actions of other officials or employees in matters that could affect their family member’s interest in their individual employment.

The Ohio Ethics Commission has advised that this does not amount to a “no-relatives” policy. Provided the school official is sufficiently detached from all employment decisions involving their family member, Ohio’s Ethics laws do not absolutely bar family members from working for the same school district. However, their obligation to remain impartial goes beyond the initial hiring process.

Even if the decision does not directly affect the public official’s family member, they may be prohibited from weighing in on certain actions involving lay-offs or terminations. For example, if a district needed to reduce their staff and one of the official’s family members worked in a department targeted for lay-offs, the public official should refrain from weighing in on those decisions. Even if they are not directly advocating for their family member to keep their position, the official’s actions could still “affect their family member’s interest in their individual employment” as the decision to lay off a different employee indirectly decreases the chances the family member will be affected by the lay-off.

The prohibitions of O.R.C. 102.03 serve the public interest in impartial government by preventing the creation of a situation which may impair the objectivity and impartiality of a public official in a matter affecting themself or a related party. Even if the public official is acting in good faith, the nature of the family relationship alone is enough to call into question the impartiality of their decision, and has the potential to undermine the public’s faith in the district. Prior to taking any employment-related action, district officials who have family members working in the same district need to consider whether the particular decision, even if it relates to another employee, could indirectly improve their family member’s own employment prospects.

School Employee Average Wage Increase Overall:

The Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB) released the annual wage settlement report for 2024 on March 1, 2025. The report shows wages increased more in 2024 than in any other year since 2015, nearly across the board. Teacher wages increased an average of 3.17% and non-teacher school employee wages increased an average of 3.07%. This is the first time since 2015 that school employee wage increases were 3% or higher; in 2023 the state saw an increase of 2.96% for teachers and 2.86% for non-teachers. However, put into context, of the categories of employees reported on (Police (Safety/Security), Fire, Blue-Collar, Other), school employees saw the smallest percentage of wage increase and the statewide average wage increase was 3.42%.

The report’s predictions for 2025 and 2026 show a slight slowdown in wage growth for school employees but the actual results will not be known until March 2026.

School Employee Average Wage Increase By Region:

The 2024 Wage Settlement Report also breaks down the average wage increases by state regions. Below are the average wage increases by region:

1. Akron/Canton: 3.14%
2. Cincinnati: 3.64%
3. Cleveland: 3.29%
4. Columbus: 3.66%
5. Dayton: 3.34%
6. Southeast Ohio: 3.67%
7. Toledo: 3.59%
8. Warren/Youngstown: 3.03%

Of the state regions, two regions saw wages increase at a slower rate in 2024 than in 2023. Akron/Canton 2023 average increase was 3.24% and Warren/Youngstown 2023 average increase was 3.07%.

Districts statewide are also carefully watching the state biennium budget bill. Initial projections on revenue from both the Governor’s proposal as well as the version of the budget bill adopted by the Ohio House show concerning numbers for many schools. The budget bill will also likely influence wages moving forward.

What does this mean for your school district?

With 2024 seeing the largest school employee wage increases since 2015, your school is likely feeling that as well and may feel it more if you’re in the process of, or about to begin bargaining for a new agreement. Going into bargaining, consider the region of your school as well to consider what other schools around you are potentially doing or considering doing for wage increases. Talk to your attorney if you have any specific questions regarding the 2024 wage settlement report and what it means for your school.

Jones v. Kent City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., Slip Opinion No. 2024-Ohio-2844.

On July 31st, 2024 the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the Kent City School District to reinstate a teacher after determining that the Board of Education failed to complete three formal observations as is required by the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (“OTES”), and therefore was not able to non-renew his employment.

Jones had been employed by the district for roughly twenty years and began having disciplinary issues during the 2019-2020 school year. He repeatedly left early from work and failed to complete assigned tasks during teacher workdays. Following an absence where Jones failed to notify the administrators of his absence and failed to schedule a substitute pursuant to district procedures, the Board notified Jones that he would be placed on a “full cycle” evaluation and that he was being considered by the Board for nonrenewal.

Under state law, specifically R.C. 3319.111(E), school boards are required to complete at least three formal observations of any teacher employed under a limited contract if the school board is considering nonrenewal of that contract. While school boards and teachers’ unions are free to establish local standards for following the evaluation procedures, boards are still required to follow the mandatory procedures established by the General Assembly, and those statutory requirements prevail over any conflicting terms of a collective-bargaining agreement.

The evaluator in this case finished the first evaluation without any difficulties, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and shifted classes online before the second evaluation could be carried out. In response to the pandemic, the General Assembly allowed districts to drop evaluation requirements provided they agree to renew the teacher’s contract. Not wanting to reemploy Jones, the district decided to proceed with the evaluation process after they reached an agreement with the teachers’ union to allow observations to be completed virtually through distance learning. Following the agreement, a second observation took place virtually and a third was scheduled. Jones was unavailable for the third observation due to a medical emergency. He was later excused for the rest of the year by his doctor. Rather than reschedule, the evaluator moved forward with the observation in Jones’s absence by sitting in on a virtual learning session with Jones’s class.

The board unanimously approved Jones’s nonrenewal following the evaluation process, and Jones appealed the decision. Because he was not present for the final observation, Jones argued that the process violated R.C. 3319.111(E). The Ohio Supreme Court agreed. According to the Court, the plain language of the statute requires three observations of the teacher who is under consideration for nonrenewal, regardless of any agreement between the Board and the teachers’ union. It was undisputed that Jones was not present for that final evaluation. Therefore, the Court concluded that the board could not rely on Jones’s excused medical absence to justify their noncompliance with the statute.

What this means for your district? It is critical that school districts plan ahead if a teacher is up for non-renewal. As this case demonstrates, and as previous cases have held, even pandemics and doctors’ notes do not excuse a district’s evaluation requirements for non-renewals. This includes the completion of at least three observations of the teacher while they are actually engaged in teaching.