Ohio Code 4141.211 – Disclosure of information
(A)(1) As used in this section, and except as provided in divisions (A)(2) and (3) of this section, “unemployment compensation information” means information maintained by the director of job and family services or the unemployment compensation review commission, or furnished to the director or commission by employers or employees pursuant to this chapter, that pertains to the administration of this chapter.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4141.211
- 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.
- Benefits: means money payments payable to an individual who has established benefit rights, as provided in this chapter, for loss of remuneration due to the individual's unemployment. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- Contributions: means the money payments to the state unemployment compensation fund required of employers by section 4141. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Employer: means the state, its instrumentalities, its political subdivisions and their instrumentalities, Indian tribes, and any individual or type of organization including any partnership, limited liability company, association, trust, estate, joint-stock company, insurance company, or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee, or the successor thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person who subsequent to December 31, 1971, or in the case of political subdivisions or their instrumentalities, subsequent to December 31, 1973:
(a) Had in employment at least one individual, or in the case of a nonprofit organization, subsequent to December 31, 1973, had not less than four individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of twenty different calendar weeks, in either the current or the preceding calendar year whether or not the same individual was in employment in each such day; or
(b) Except for a nonprofit organization, had paid for service in employment wages of fifteen hundred dollars or more in any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year; or
(c) Had paid, subsequent to December 31, 1977, for employment in domestic service in a local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, cash remuneration of one thousand dollars or more in any calendar quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year, or had paid subsequent to December 31, 1977, for employment in domestic service in a private home cash remuneration of one thousand dollars in any calendar quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year:
(i) For the purposes of divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this section, there shall not be taken into account any wages paid to, or employment of, an individual performing domestic service as described in this division. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Employment: includes :
(a) Service performed after December 31, 1977, by an individual in the employ of the state or any of its instrumentalities, or any political subdivision thereof or any of its instrumentalities or any instrumentality of more than one of the foregoing or any instrumentality of any of the foregoing and one or more other states or political subdivisions and without regard to divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this section, provided that such service is excluded from employment as defined in the "Federal Unemployment Tax Act" 53 Stat. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- states: includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- United States: includes the states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. See Ohio Code 4141.01
- Wages: means remuneration paid to an employee by each of the employee's employers with respect to employment; except that wages shall not include that part of remuneration paid during any calendar year to an individual by an employer or such employer's predecessor in interest in the same business or enterprise, which in any calendar year is in excess of nine thousand dollars on and after January 1, 1995; nine thousand five hundred dollars on and after January 1, 2018; and nine thousand dollars on and after January 1, 2020. See Ohio Code 4141.01
(2) “Unemployment compensation information” includes a wage report collected under the income and eligibility verification system established in section 4141.162 of the Revised Code only if it is obtained by the department for determining unemployment compensation monetary eligibility or is downloaded to the department’s files as a result of a crossmatch.
(3) “Unemployment compensation information” does not include any of the following:
(a) Information in the new hires directory maintained by the department of job and family services under section 3121.894 of the Revised Code or in the national directory of new hires, if the information has not been used in the administration of the unemployment compensation program;
(b) Personnel or fiscal information of the department or commission;
(c) Information that is in the public domain.
(B) Unemployment compensation information may be disclosed under the following circumstances if the disclosure is permitted by federal law:
(1) The information is, or regards, appeal records and decisions or precedential determinations on coverage of employers, employment, and wages, provided that any social security numbers and personal health information have been removed.
(2) The information is about an individual or employer and is disclosed to that individual or employer.
(3) The information is about an individual or employer and is disclosed to an agent of the individual or employer, if the agent presents a written release from the individual or employer or another form of permissible consent if the agent demonstrates that a written release is impossible or impracticable to obtain.
(4) The information is disclosed to an elected official performing constituent services who presents reasonable evidence that an individual or employer has authorized a disclosure about that individual or employer.
(5) The information is about an individual or employer and is disclosed to an attorney who is retained for purposes related to unemployment compensation law and asserts that the attorney represents the individual or employer.
(6) The information is about an individual or employer and is disclosed to a third party who is not an agent, but is providing a service or benefit to the individual or employer or is carrying out administration or evaluation of a public program, if the third party obtains a written release from the individual or employer that is signed and does all of the following:
(a) Specifically identifies the information to be disclosed;
(b) States which files will be accessed to obtain the information;
(c) Specifies the purpose for which the information is sought and that the information will only be used for that purpose;
(d) Indicates all of the parties who may receive the information.
(7) The information is disclosed to a public official, or an agent or contractor of such an official, for use in the performance of official duties, including research related to the administration of those duties.
(8) The information is disclosed to the federal bureau of labor statistics pursuant to a cooperative agreement with the bureau.
(9) The information is disclosed in response to a subpoena or court order, provided the subpoena or order is properly served on the director or the commission, and a court has previously issued a binding precedential decision that requires disclosures of this type or an established pattern of prior court decisions requiring the type of disclosure exists.
(10) The information is disclosed in response to a subpoena by a local, state, or federal government official, other than a clerk of court on behalf of a litigant, with authority to obtain such information by subpoena under law.
(11) The information is disclosed to a federal or state official for purposes of unemployment compensation program oversight and audits or to a federal agency that the United States department of labor has determined to have adequate safeguards to satisfy the confidentiality and safeguard requirements of section 303 of the “Social Security Act,” 42 U.S.C. § 503.
(12) The disclosure of information is required by law.
(C)(1) For purposes of division (B)(7) of this section, “performance of official duties” does not include solicitation of contributions or expenditures to or on behalf of a candidate for public or political office or a political party.
(2) For purposes of division (B)(10) of this section, the director may also disclose unemployment compensation information to those officials without the issuance or service of a subpoena.
(D) The following information may be disclosed to accredited colleges and universities, accredited educational institutions, nonprofit research organizations, and other organizations conducting research, if the disclosure is for the purpose of assisting in research or for use in providing or improving the provision of government services:
(1) Wage information as that term is defined in division (J) of section 4141.43 of the Revised Code;
(2) Whether an individual is receiving, has received, or has applied for unemployment compensation;
(3) The amount of unemployment compensation an individual is receiving or entitled to receive;
(4) An individual’s current or most recent home address;
(5) Whether an individual has refused an offer of work and, if so, a description of the job offered including the terms, conditions, and rate of pay;
(6) Any other information contained in the records of the director which is needed by the requesting agency to verify eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits;
(7) Employment and training information;
(8) Employer information.
(E) The director may require recipients of unemployment compensation information to enter into a written agreement to receive the information.
(F) A recipient of unemployment compensation information, other than an individual or employer receiving information about that individual or employer, shall not redisclose the information without approval to do so from the director and shall safeguard the information against unauthorized access or redisclosure.
(G) Failure to comply with this section may result in civil or criminal penalties, including the penalties set forward in sections 4141.22 and 4141.99 of the Revised Code, as applicable.
Last updated September 13, 2023 at 11:47 AM