AbsentEase
Ohio sick leave law & call-off rules
Ohio requires no sick leave and no breaks for adult workers, and a 2016 preemption law keeps cities from adding their own mandates. The rules Ohio employers actually trip over: a final paycheck due by the next regular payday (Ohio has no separation-specific deadline), accrued vacation that courts treat as earned unless your policy clearly says otherwise, and ORC 4123.90 — the workers' comp retaliation statute that turns careless attendance points into lawsuits. Here is what applies in 2026.
Ohio at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None — and ORC 4113.85 preempts local ordinances |
|---|---|
| Employment relationship | At-will, with the Greeley public-policy exception and ORC 4123.90 comp-retaliation bar |
| PTO payout at termination | No statute — but absent clear forfeiture language, Ohio courts treat accrued vacation as earned and payable |
| Final paycheck deadline | Next regular payday — Ohio has no separation-specific deadline (ORC 4113.15) |
| Meal & rest breaks | None for adults; minors get 30 minutes at 5+ consecutive hours |
| Voting leave | Reasonable time to vote — protected, unpaid for hourly workers |
| FMLA (federal) | Applies at 50+ employees within 75 miles — 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected |
Is paid sick leave required in Ohio?
No. Ohio has no state law requiring private employers to provide sick leave, paid or unpaid, and SB 331 (ORC 4113.85) bars municipalities from mandating sick leave or other fringe benefits. Your written policy — plus federal FMLA and ADA obligations — is the whole rulebook.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Ohio
Ohio is at-will, and a no-call no-show can be disciplined or terminated like anywhere else. The classic Ohio trap is the no-fault points system meeting ORC 4123.90: assessing points for absences caused by a workplace injury, then terminating when the points add up, is a well-worn path to a workers' comp retaliation claim. The fix is classification at the moment of the call-off — comp-related absences get carved out before points post. When a termination is contested (unemployment through Ohio Job and Family Services, or a wage complaint at the Ohio Department of Commerce), the questions are the same as everywhere: what does the written policy say, was it applied evenly, and can you produce the absence history? A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system gives you that history without anyone maintaining a spreadsheet.
After a no call, no show termination in Ohio
| Does Ohio law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation applying to private employers defines job abandonment or sets a consecutive-days threshold; it is set by employer policy. (Ohio Rev. Code § 4141.29(D)(2)(a)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | No state deadline statute; wages are due on the next regular payday under general wage-payment rules. Ohio's wage-payment statute requires semimonthly payment (wages earned in the first half of a month by the first day of the following month, wages earned in the second half by the fifteenth) and does not address termination or discharge; if wages remain unpaid thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday with no contest or dispute, the employer owes liquidated damages of six percent of the unpaid amount or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater. (Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(A) (payment schedule); § 4113.15(B) (liquidated damages)) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | No state deadline statute; wages are due on the next regular payday under general wage-payment rules. The same § 4113.15(A) schedule applies whether the employee quit with notice, quit without notice, or was discharged. (Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(A)) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | Owed unless a written policy clearly provides for forfeiture. No Ohio statute requires payout of accrued vacation; § 4113.15(D)(2) defines vacation, separation and holiday pay as 'fringe benefits' and § 4113.15(C) makes an employer that has agreed to pay fringe benefits a trustee of those funds. Ohio appellate courts treat accrued vacation as a deferred payment of an earned benefit that is owed at separation unless a clear, communicated written policy provides for forfeiture; where the handbook says unused time is forfeited on resignation or discharge, courts have enforced it. (Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(C), (D)(2); Condron v. Willoughby Hills, 2007-Ohio-5208 (11th Dist.)) |
| Unemployment claims | No benefits are paid when the individual quit work without just cause or was discharged for just cause in connection with the individual's work (§ 4141.29(D)(2)(a)); the statute does not mention absences or job abandonment, so a no-call, no-show is adjudicated under the just-cause standard either as a quit or a discharge. |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Ohio's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Ohio
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Ohio already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | Final pay due by the next regular payday under Ohio's semi-monthly schedule — no separation-specific deadline; wages 30 days late draw a 6% or $200 penalty | ORC 4113.15 |
| Employee quits | Same rule — next regular payday | ORC 4113.15 |
| Unused vacation / PTO | The written policy governs — but if it doesn't clearly forfeit accrued vacation, Ohio courts treat it as earned compensation owed at separation | Ohio case law |
| Policy silent on payout | Risky — silence tends to be read in the employee's favor; write the forfeiture rule explicitly | — |
Ohio rewards precise policy drafting: an explicit, written forfeiture clause is enforceable, a vague one isn't. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Ohio employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Voting | Yes — protected | A reasonable time off to vote; firing or threatening over it is prohibited (ORC 3599.06); unpaid for hourly staff |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | No firing, and you can't force employees to use vacation or sick time for it (ORC 2313.19) |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Ohio National Guard protections |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides |
| Vacation / PTO | No | Policy-driven; see payout rules above |
The Ohio employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.