Ohio Code 4109.21 – Registering as employer of minors conducting door-to-door sales activity
(A) No employer shall employ any minor who is under sixteen years of age in any door-to-door sales activity unless that employer is registered pursuant to this section and otherwise is in compliance with the requirements of this chapter.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4109.21
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Employ: means to permit or suffer to work. See Ohio Code 4109.01
- Employer: means the state, its political subdivisions, and every person who employs any individual. See Ohio Code 4109.01
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Minor: means any person less than eighteen years of age. See Ohio Code 4109.01
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
(B) To obtain registration as a door-to-door employer, an employer shall apply to the director of commerce, on forms provided by the director. The application form shall include all of the following:
(1) The name, principal business address, and telephone number of the applicant. If the applicant is a partnership or association, the names of all the members also shall be stated and, if the applicant is a corporation, the names of its president and each of its officers also shall be stated.
(2) A certification that the applicant and its employees:
(a) Are in compliance with and will comply with all applicable Ohio and federal laws and regulations relating to the employment of minors;
(b) Will provide at least one supervisor who is over the age of eighteen, for each six minor employees, who is at all times available and responsible for assuring the minor’s well-being, and who remains in the general area and in visual contact with each minor employed in door-to-door sales activities at least once every twenty minutes;
(c) Will require all minors to work at least in pairs with others who are engaged in substantially the same activity, employing insofar as possible canvassing techniques that keep the persons working in pairs in close proximity and view of each other;
(d) Are in compliance with Ohio’s motor vehicle financial responsibility, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, and all other applicable laws; and
(e) Will not employ any minor who does not have an appropriate age and schooling certificate if that minor is required by Ohio law to have the certificate to be employed.
(3) A certification, as evidenced by a current official inspection sticker issued by the Ohio state highway patrol, that each motor vehicle used by the applicant and the applicant’s employees for the purpose of transport of minors for door-to-door sales activities complies with all applicable motor vehicle safety laws;
(4) A certification that any person who transports by motor vehicle minors for purposes of door-to-door sales activities possesses a valid and properly issued Ohio motor vehicle driver’s license, which license is not under suspension.
(C)(1) The director shall issue a registration to each applicant who satisfactorily submits an application pursuant to this section and otherwise meets all of the requirements of this section. If the director fails to issue or deny a registration or its renewal within fifteen days of submission of the application or renewal, the applicant is deemed registered under this section. Each registration expires one year after its issuance. To obtain a renewal of registration, the holder of the registration shall apply for renewal to the director according to the procedures of division (B) of this section for the initial issuance of the registration.
(2) Each employer issued a registration pursuant to this section shall provide each minor employee who is engaged in door-to-door sales, prior to beginning employment with the employer, an identification card in a form prescribed by the director. The card shall include, at a minimum, a picture of the minor employee, the minor employee’s name, the name and address of the employer, a statement that the employer is registered with the director of commerce, and the employer’s registration number.
(D) The director, pursuant to a hearing conducted in accordance with Chapter 119 of the Revised Code, may refuse to issue or renew a door-to-door sales registration or revoke a door-to-door sales registration if the director determines that the applicant, registrant, any member of an applicant’s or registrant’s partnership or association, or any officer or employee of an applicant or registrant has done any of the following:
(1) Obtained or attempted to obtain a registration by fraud or misrepresentation;
(2) Been guilty of gross misconduct in the pursuit of the door-to-door sales profession;
(3) Violated or is threatening to violate any provision of this or any other state or federal law or regulation which regulates the employment of minors.
(E) No employer whose registration has been revoked under this section may apply for registration for two years from the date of the revocation. The director may require such employer upon application for a registration to meet conditions in addition to those provided in this section for registration and renewal as the director determines necessary to safeguard the interests of minors to be employed by the employer.
(F) No employer may employ:
(1) Any minor who is under sixteen years of age in any door-to-door sales activity before seven a.m. or after seven p.m. or during school hours except where specifically permitted by this chapter;
(2) Any minor who is sixteen or seventeen years of age in any door-to-door sales activity before seven a.m. or after eight p.m. or during school hours except where specifically permitted by this chapter.
(G) As used in this section, “door-to-door sales activity” means any activity involving selling or offering to sell any candy, cookies, flowers, newspapers, magazines, newspaper or magazine subscriptions, household cleaning products, or any other merchandise or commodity at a place of business other than the employer’s place of business but does not mean any such activity conducted in connection with a bona fide educational, charitable, or religious activity or for a newspaper subscription drive provided that the minor also is engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer for the newspaper in which the subscription drive is conducted and further provided that the subscription drive is supervised by an individual who is eighteen years of age or older and an employee of the newspaper’s subscription drive.