OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 180 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 180’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Hicks-Hudson
Effective Date:
Kailey Henry, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
▪ Permits an otherwise eligible individual to receive unemployment benefits if the
individual’s unemployment was caused by a strike at a facility owned or operated by the
individual’s employer.
▪ Allows an eligible individual unemployed due to a strike to receive up to four weeks of
benefits retroactively (but not earlier than when the strike began).
▪ Declares an emergency.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Unemployment benefits due to strikes
The bill eliminates the disqualification from receiving unemployment benefits if an
individual’s unemployment is caused by a strike. Thus, the bill allows an individual who is
otherwise eligible to receive those benefits if the individual’s unemployment was caused by a
strike at the factory, establishment, or other premises, owned or operated by the individual’s
employer, at which the individual is or was last employed.
Under current law, an individual is generally disqualified from serving a waiting week or
receiving unemployment benefits for any week in which the individual’s unemployment is due to
a labor dispute, including a strike. Continuing law contains exceptions to the labor dispute
disqualification, including an exception for an individual who is unemployed due to a labor
dispute at a facility owned or operated by the individual’s employer other than the facility at
which the individual works. The bill expands the exception by eliminating a requirement that the
individual must prove that the individual is not financing, participating in, or directly interested
in the labor dispute that is causing the unemployment.1
1 R.C. 4141.29(D) and 4141.294(A).
November 4, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Retroactive eligibility
Under the bill, an otherwise eligible individual who is unemployed because of a strike
qualifies for benefits beginning on one of the following days, as applicable:
▪ If the individual files an initial application for benefits or an application for an additional
claim fewer than four weeks after the date the strike began, the first day of the week
during which the strike began;
▪ If the individual files an initial application for benefits or an application for an additional
claim four or more weeks after the date the strike began, the first day of the week that is
four weeks before the individual filed the application.
An individual who is eligible for benefits for any week that occurred before the individual
applied is entitled to receive those benefits retroactively. The Director of Job and Family Services
(who administers the Unemployment Compensation Law) must do all of the following with
respect to any weeks that occurred before the individual filed the application:
▪ Waive a continuing law requirement that an individual must actively search for work to
receive benefits;
▪ Waive a continuing law requirement that an individual must serve a one-week waiting
period before being paid unemployment benefits;
▪ Consider the individual to be registered for purposes of a continuing law requirement that
the individual register for work.2
Emergency clause
The bill declares that it is an emergency measure, and that it therefore takes effect
immediately.3
Background – Unemployment Compensation Law
The Unemployment Compensation Law specifies certain conditions that an individual
must meet and procedures the individual must follow to qualify for unemployment benefits.
Determining eligibility is a two-phase process. In the first phase, an individual files an initial
application for a determination of benefit rights, which generally examines whether the
individual worked and earned enough to be eligible for benefits (“monetary eligibility”). This
application is used to establish the individual’s benefit year, which is the 52-week period during
which the individual may file claims for benefits based on satisfying the monetary eligibility
requirements.4 After filing a valid initial application and establishing a benefit year, an individual
2 R.C. 4141.294(B) and (C), with conforming changes in R.C. 4141.29.
3 Section 4.
4 R.C. 4141.01(R)(1) and 4141.28(B) and (D), not in the bill.
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As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
enters the second phase of the process. In the second phase, the individual must file a claim for
benefits each week the individual seeks benefits during the individual’s benefit year.5
Ordinarily, to satisfy the monetary eligibility requirements, an individual must have worked
in employment covered by the Unemployment Compensation Law for at least 20 weeks within
the individual’s “base period” and earned an average weekly wage of not less than 27.5% of the
statewide average weekly wage within the base period.6 An individual’s “base period” is the first
four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the
individual’s benefit year. If an individual does not have sufficient qualifying weeks and wages in
the base period to qualify for benefit rights, the individual’s base period is the four most recently
completed calendar quarters preceding the first day of the individual’s benefit year, which is
referred to as the “alternate base period.”7
An individual who has satisfied the monetary eligibility requirements is eligible for
benefits after serving a waiting period of one week, during which no benefits are payable. After
the waiting week, the individual is entitled to receive benefits for a minimum of 20 weeks, up to
a maximum of 26 weeks (one additional benefit week is added for each qualifying week above
20 weeks in the individual’s base period). Total benefits cannot exceed an amount equal to the
maximum number of weeks for which an individual is eligible times the individual’s weekly
benefit amount (50% of the individual’s average weekly wage during the individual’s base period,
up to a statutory maximum based on the number of the individual’s dependents).8
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 10-30-23
ANSB0180IN-135/ar
5 R.C. 4141.28(E), not in the bill.
6 R.C. 4141.01(R), not in the bill.
7 R.C. 4141.01(O)(1), (Q), and (R), not in the bill.
8R.C. 4141.29(B) and R.C. 4141.30(B), (D), and (E), not in the bill; How UI Benefits are Calculated, which
may be accessed by conducting a keyword “UI benefits” search on the ODJFS website: jfs.ohio.gov.
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As Introduced


Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 4141.29