Ohio Law Establishes Criteria for Compensable Remote Worker Injuries

A first-of-its-kind law in Ohio gives employees who work from home parameters for what constitutes a work-related injury outside of the employer’s physical domain, an issue that has been raised in courtrooms across the country with varying results.

H.B. 447, crafted in response to the pandemic and passed earlier this year, goes into effect Sept. 23.

It states that unless certain conditions are met compensability is barred for ‘an injury or disability sustained by an employee who performs the employee’s duties in a work area that is located within the employee’s home and that is separate and distinct from the location of the employer.’

The law states that three factors must apply for an at-home injury to be compensable: that the injury or disability arose out of the worker’s employment; that it was caused by a special hazard of the employment activity; and that it was sustained in the course of an activity undertaken by the employee for the exclusive benefit of the employer.