Ohio Code 4123.88 – False representation or solicitation of authority
(A) No person shall orally or in writing, directly or indirectly, or through any agent or other person fraudulently hold the person’s self out or represent the person’s self or any of the person’s partners or associates as authorized by a claimant or employer to take charge of, or represent the claimant or employer in respect of, any claim or matter in connection therewith before the bureau of workers’ compensation or the industrial commission or its district or staff hearing officers. No person shall, without prior authority from the bureau, a member of the commission, the claimant, or the employer, examine or directly or indirectly cause or employ another person to examine any claim file or any other file pertaining thereto. No person shall forge an authorization for the purpose of examining or cause another person to examine any such file. No district or staff hearing officer or other employee of the bureau or commission, notwithstanding the provisions of section 4123.27 of the Revised Code, shall divulge any information in respect of any claim or appeal which is or may be filed with a district or staff hearing officer, the bureau, or commission to any person other than members of the commission or to the superior of the employee except upon authorization of the administrator of workers’ compensation or a member of the commission or upon authorization of the claimant or employer.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4123.88
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- employee: includes the following persons when responding to an inherently dangerous situation that calls for an immediate response on the part of the person, regardless of whether the person is within the limits of the jurisdiction of the person's regular employment or voluntary service when responding, on the condition that the person responds to the situation as the person otherwise would if the person were on duty in the person's jurisdiction:
(i) Off-duty peace officers. See Ohio Code 4123.01
- Employer: means :
(a) The state, including state hospitals, each county, municipal corporation, township, school district, and hospital owned by a political subdivision or subdivisions other than the state;
(b) Every person, firm, professional employer organization, alternate employer organization, and private corporation, including any public service corporation, that (i) has in service one or more employees or shared employees regularly in the same business or in or about the same establishment under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or (ii) is bound by any such contract of hire or by any other written contract, to pay into the insurance fund the premiums provided by this chapter. See Ohio Code 4123.01
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Sexual conduct: means vaginal intercourse between a male and female; anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of gender; and, without privilege to do so, the insertion, however slight, of any part of the body or any instrument, apparatus, or other object into the vaginal or anal cavity of another. See Ohio Code 4123.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
(B) The records described or referred to in division (A) of this section are not public records as defined in division (A)(1) of section 149.43 of the Revised Code. Any information directly or indirectly identifying the name, address, or telephone number of a claimant, regardless of whether the claimant’s claim is active or closed, is not a public record. No person shall solicit or obtain any such information from any such employee without first having obtained an authorization therefor as provided in this section.
(C) Except as otherwise specified in division (D) of this section, information kept by the commission or the bureau pursuant to this section is for the exclusive use and information of the commission and the bureau in the discharge of their official duties, and shall not be open to the public nor be used in any court in any action or proceeding pending therein, unless the commission or the bureau is a party to the action or proceeding. The information, however, may be tabulated and published by the commission or the bureau in statistical form for the use and information of other state agencies and the public.
(D)(1) Except as provided in division (G) of this section, upon receiving a written request made and signed by an individual whose primary occupation is as a journalist, the commission or the bureau shall disclose to the individual the name or names, address or addresses, and telephone number or numbers of claimants, regardless of whether their claims are active or closed.
(2) An individual described in division (D)(1) of this section is permitted to request the information described in that division for multiple claimants in one written request.
(3) An individual described in division (D)(1) of this section shall include all of the following in the written request:
(a) The individual’s name, title, and signature;
(b) The name and title of the individual’s employer;
(c) A statement that the disclosure of the information sought is in the public interest;
(d) A statement that the individual acknowledges that the information is not a public record and that the individual will not disclose the information to any other person for any reason unrelated to journalism.
(4) Neither the commission nor the bureau may inquire as to the specific public interest served by the disclosure of information requested by an individual under division (D) of this section.
(E) No person who receives information under division (D) of this section shall recklessly disclose the information to any other person for any reason unrelated to journalism.
(F) No person who obtains or receives records in violation of this section shall recklessly use that information to solicit, directly or indirectly, authority from a claimant or employer to take charge of, or represent the claimant or employer in respect of, any claim or appeal that is or may be filed with the bureau or commission.
(G) Neither the commission nor the bureau shall disclose to an individual described in division (D)(1) of this section the name, address, or telephone number of a claimant if the disclosure would reveal that the claim is for a condition that arose from sexual conduct in which the claimant was forced by threat of physical harm to engage or participate.
(H) As used in this section, “journalist” has the same meaning as in division (B)(9) of section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
Last updated August 4, 2021 at 2:18 PM