Ohio Code 4117.16 – Temporary restraining order enjoining strike
(A) Whenever the public employer believes that a lawful strike creates clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public, the public employer may petition the court of common pleas having jurisdiction over the parties to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the strike. If the court finds probable cause to believe that the strike may be a clear and present danger to the public health or safety, it has jurisdiction to issue a temporary restraining order, not to exceed seventy-two hours, enjoining the strike.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4117.16
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Employee organization: means any labor or bona fide organization in which public employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with public employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, hours, terms, and other conditions of employment. See Ohio Code 4117.01
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
- Public employer: means the state or any political subdivision of the state located entirely within the state, including, without limitation, any municipal corporation with a population of at least five thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census; county; township with a population of at least five thousand in the unincorporated area of the township according to the most recent federal decennial census; school district; governing authority of a community school established under Chapter 3314 of the Revised Code; college preparatory boarding school established under Chapter 3328 of the Revised Code or its operator; state institution of higher learning; public or special district; state agency, authority, commission, or board; or other branch of public employment. See Ohio Code 4117.01
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Strike: means continuous concerted action in failing to report to duty; willful absence from one's position; or stoppage of work in whole from the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment, for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in wages, hours, terms, and other conditions of employment. See Ohio Code 4117.01
- Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
Should a court issue a temporary restraining order, the public employer shall immediately request authorization of the state employment relations board to enjoin the strike beyond the effective period of the temporary restraining order. The board shall determine within the effective period of the temporary restraining order whether the strike creates a clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public.
If the board finds that a clear and present danger exists, the common pleas court which issued the temporary restraining order has jurisdiction to issue orders to further enjoin the strike. However, the court shall make provisions in any injunction or other order issued beyond the temporary restraining order for the automatic termination of the injunction or other order at the end of sixty days following the end of the temporary restraining order or when an agreement is reached, whichever occurs first. Thereafter, no court has jurisdiction to issue any further injunction or other orders pursuant to this section. The order of the court is appealable as provided in the Appellate Rules.
(B) Whenever a court of common pleas has issued an order, other than a temporary restraining order, under division (A) of this section enjoining acts or practices which create a clear and present danger to the public health or safety, the parties to the labor dispute giving rise to the order shall engage in collective bargaining for a period of sixty days from the date of the order or until agreement is reached, whichever occurs first. The parties shall collectively bargain with the assistance of a mediator appointed by the board. The mediator, at his discretion, may require that the parties collectively bargain in public or in private. At any time after there has been forty-five days of collective bargaining and no agreement has been reached, the mediator may make public a report on the current position of the parties to the dispute and the efforts which have been made for settlement. The report shall include a statement by each party of its position and a statement of the employee organization‘s and public employer’s offers of settlement.