It’s been six months since Ohio made it illegal for employers to prohibit employees (or anyone else for that matter) from storing a firearm in their vehicles on the employer’s property. This law, however, lacks any specific statutory teeth (sort of). If Ohio legislators get their way, this omission will soon change.
Am. Sub. H.B. 49 proposes to add the following language:
A business entity, property owner, or public or private employer … may be found liable in a civil action for injunctive relief brought by any individual injured by the violation. The court may award injunctive relief it finds appropriate.
I’m not in love with this statute authorizing injunctive relief (especially when I’ve heard multiple clients balk at the original law). Yet, it’s a whole lot better than the original amendment, which proposed an award of compensatory damages, costs, an attorneys’ fees for a violation.
While I remain convinced that a law permitting employees to store firearms in their vehicles parked at work is a horrendous idea, it is the law, and it is about to have some enforcement teeth behind it. So, instead of complaining about it and threatening non-compliance, now is the time to invest in implementing an Active Shooter / Emergency Action Plan, so that your business knows how to respond in the event this evil enters your workplace.
Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.
This “evil”, as you describe it, could easily be a salvation protecting workers from someone with evil intent and the means to carry it out. Normally, individuals who have gone to the trouble to satisfy the requirements to legally carry a gun, can be depended on to use it for defensive purposes only. I’d much rather have some of those co-workers than not. But then again, I’m from Texas for a reason, and that’s one of them.
Why is allowing employees to store a firearm in their POV a “horrendous idea?” If an individual lawfully carries a concealed weapon, leaving it in their vehicle is necessary, especially if an employer doesn’t permit concealed carry on their premises. Without the ability to store in in their vehicle, concealed carry folks are left with one option: leave the weapon at home. That defeats the purpose of concealed carry and impedes the individual’s ability to ensure their personal safety. Also, having employees who carry concealed while on the job is likely the best defense in an active shooter incident.
Can you share support for your statement that employees who carry concealed while on the job is the best defense in an active shooter incident?
I used the term “likely” to qualify the statement as being my personal opinion. Can you share support for statement that permitting employees to leave weapons in their vehicle is a “horrendous idea?”
During a recent Run Hide Fight seminar given by the Police Department, in the opinion of the officers giving the training, they’d like nothing better than having a few CCW people at work all of the time. Why? The shooters only target “Gun Free Zones,” because they can.