# Wage and Hour Law in Ohio[^about] A question-by-question summary of Ohio wage and hour law, covering the constitutional CPI-indexed minimum wage that reaches $11.00 in 2026 with a half-wage tip credit of $5.50, weekly-only overtime with no daily-overtime mandate, the absence of any adult meal-or-rest-break rule (minors excepted), a next-regular-payday final-pay default backed by a 6%-or-$200 late-pay penalty, a semimonthly pay-frequency floor, the itemized wage statement required by the Pay Stub Protection Act, and the FLSA economic-realities classification test imported by R.C. 4111.14. Ohio builds its wage floor into the state constitution — a voter-enacted amendment that sets a minimum wage above the federal figure and indexes it to inflation every year — and then fills in the rest of the wage-and-hour rules by statute. Overtime is a weekly-only, federal-style rule; there is no adult meal-or-rest-break mandate; final pay follows the ordinary payday cycle rather than a separation-specific deadline; and wages must be paid on a semimonthly schedule by default, with an itemized pay stub. Worker status is decided not by a state ABC test but by the federal economic-realities test that Ohio law borrows wholesale from the Fair Labor Standards Act. This note walks through each rule an in-house team has to get right for an Ohio workforce. For the cross-state framework, see the [wage and hour practice guide](/practice-guides/wage-and-hour). ## What is the minimum wage? {#minimum-wage} **Short answer.** Ohio's minimum wage lives in the state constitution, not in an ordinary statute. Article II, section 34a sets the wage and directs that it rise every year, so the implementing statute simply commands every employer to pay at least the constitutional rate [^oh-stat-4111-02-duty]. The wage is recalculated each September 30 by the change in the consumer price index and takes effect the following January 1, rounded to the nearest five cents — which puts the 2026 non-tipped rate at $11.00 an hour, well above the federal floor of $7.25 [^oh-const-34a-index]. Two categories stay at the federal figure: employees under sixteen, and small employers, whom the Department of Commerce identifies in 2026 as those grossing less than $405,000 [^oh-const-34a-threshold][^oh-commerce-2026-nontipped]. No Ohio city or county may set a different local minimum wage, because the implementing statute forbids it [^oh-stat-4111-02-preempt]. Because the floor is constitutional, the annual step-ups happen automatically and no ordinary statute can lower them. Section 34a fixes the indexing formula and the September-to-January cadence. "On the thirtieth day of each September, beginning in 2007, this state minimum wage rate shall be increased effective the first day of the following January by the rate of inflation for the twelve month period prior to that September according to the consumer price index or its successor index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers for all items as calculated by the federal government rounded to the nearest five cents."[^oh-const-34a-index] The amendment carves out only two groups from its higher rate — the youngest workers and the smallest businesses — and drops them to the federal minimum. "Employees under the age of sixteen and employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or less for the preceding calendar year shall be paid a wage rate of not less than that established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or its successor law."[^oh-const-34a-threshold] Local governments cannot layer their own minimum wage on top: the wage-payment statute expressly bars a political subdivision from setting a different figure. "No political subdivision shall establish a minimum wage rate different from the wage rate required under this section."[^oh-stat-4111-02-preempt] Two bills introduced in the 136th General Assembly remain pending in committee: House Bill 34 would increase the minimum wage, and House Bill 225 would phase out the subminimum wage for individuals with disabilities. Neither has been enacted, so the constitutional rate continues to govern. ## When is overtime owed? {#overtime} **Short answer.** Ohio overtime is weekly-only, and it tracks the federal rule. Section 4111.03 requires one-and-one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over forty in a workweek and expressly incorporates the FLSA's own exemptions, so there is no daily-overtime or double-time tier [^oh-stat-4111-03-ot]. The Department of Commerce states the same rule and adds the coverage line that matters most: the overtime obligation reaches only employers grossing $150,000 or more per year [^oh-commerce-ot-150k]. Note that this $150,000 overtime threshold is a different number from the $405,000 small-employer figure that governs the minimum wage. The Department of Commerce poster states the overtime rule and its gross-sales cutoff in one sentence. "An employer shall pay an employee for overtime at a wage rate of one and one-half times the employee’s wage rate for hours in excess of 40 hours in one work week, except for employers grossing less than $150,000 per year."[^oh-commerce-ot-150k] Two carve-outs narrow the rule further. Agricultural employees are excluded from the overtime provision altogether. "Any employee employed in agriculture shall not be covered by the overtime provision of this section."[^oh-stat-4111-03-ag] And Ohio's analog to the federal Portal-to-Portal Act, Section 4111.031, generally keeps commuting, preliminary and postliminary tasks, and insubstantial off-schedule time out of the overtime calculation [^oh-stat-4111-031-portal]. Those exclusions are not absolute: division (B) restores compensability when the activity happens during the regular workday or prescribed hours or at the employer's specific direction, and division (C) does so when an express contract or a qualifying custom or practice covers it. Taken together, these provisions leave most Ohio employees on the same 40-hour weekly standard the FLSA sets, with no separate daily-overtime regime. ## Are breaks required? {#meal-rest-breaks} **Short answer.** No — not for adults. Ohio has no statute requiring meal or rest breaks for adult employees, so break policy is left to the employer and to the FLSA rules on which breaks count as paid working time. The only Ohio break mandate is for minors: Section 4109.07 bars an employer from working a minor more than five consecutive hours without a rest period of at least thirty minutes [^oh-stat-4109-07-break]. That rule carries a criminal penalty — a violation of the break provision is a minor misdemeanor [^oh-stat-4109-99-penalty]. The child-labor break rule is the exception that proves the point: Ohio legislated a break entitlement only for workers under eighteen, and stopped there. "No employer shall employ a minor more than five consecutive hours without allowing the minor a rest period of at least thirty minutes."[^oh-stat-4109-07-break] That mandate is enforced, not merely aspirational: the penalty section reaches the break provision directly. "Whoever violates section 4109.04, division (C) of section 4109.07, division (A), (B), or (D) of section 4109.08, section 4109.11, or division (B) of section 4109.12 of the Revised Code is guilty of a minor misdemeanor."[^oh-stat-4109-99-penalty] For adults, break compensation is a matter of federal law. Under the FLSA, short rest breaks an employer chooses to offer count as paid working time, while a bona fide meal period of thirty minutes or more, during which the employee is fully relieved of duties, need not be paid. Ohio adds nothing on top for the adult workforce. ## When is final pay due? {#final-pay} **Short answer.** Ohio sets no separation-specific deadline for final pay. There is no statute making wages due on the day of discharge or within a fixed number of days after a quit; final wages are simply governed by the ordinary wage-payment statute, whose default schedule sets first-of-the-month and fifteenth-of-the-month paydays [^oh-stat-4113-15-payday]. In practice that means final pay, whether the worker quit or was discharged, is due on the next regularly scheduled payday. Because no statute accelerates the deadline, the timing question turns on the ordinary pay cycle rather than on the manner of separation — a discharge and a voluntary quit are treated alike. "Every employer doing business in this state shall, on or before the first day of each month, pay all its employees the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, pay such employees the wages earned by them during the last half of the preceding calendar month."[^oh-stat-4113-15-payday] A worker who is shorted on the final paycheck pursues the money as an ordinary unpaid-wage claim under this same statute, which supplies its own late-payment penalty — addressed in the next question. ## What is the penalty for late or unpaid wages? {#late-pay-penalty} **Short answer.** Ohio attaches a liquidated-damages penalty to wages that stay unpaid. Once wages remain unpaid for thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday — with no contest, court order, or dispute, including a counterclaim, accounting for the nonpayment — the employer owes, on top of the wages, an extra amount equal to six per cent of the unpaid claim or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater [^oh-stat-4113-15-penalty]. The penalty attaches once the thirty-day clock runs on an undisputed claim, which gives an employer a strong incentive to resolve a wage shortfall promptly rather than let it age. The statute ties the penalty to a clear trigger: thirty days of nonpayment past the scheduled payday, absent a contest or dispute accounting for it. "Where wages remain unpaid for thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday or, in the case where no regularly scheduled payday is applicable, for sixty days beyond the filing by the employee of a claim or for sixty days beyond the date of the agreement, award, or other act making wages payable and no contest court order or dispute of any wage claim including the assertion of a counterclaim exists accounting for nonpayment, the employer, in addition, as liquidated damages, is liable to the employee in an amount equal to six per cent of the amount of the claim still unpaid and not in contest or disputed or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater."[^oh-stat-4113-15-penalty] Because the extra amount is the greater of a percentage or a flat two hundred dollars, even a small unpaid balance carries a meaningful penalty, and a contest or dispute over whether the wages are owed suspends it. ## How often must workers be paid? {#pay-frequency} **Short answer.** Ohio's default pay schedule is semimonthly. The wage-payment statute sets first-of-the-month and fifteenth-of-the-month deadlines — pay for the first half of the month by the first of the next month, and pay for the second half by the fifteenth — while allowing more frequent daily or weekly paydays and permitting a longer lapse where that is customary to a given trade, profession, or occupation, or is established by written contract or by operation of law [^oh-stat-4113-15-semimonthly]. Separately, the Pay Stub Protection Act (R.C. 4113.14) requires every employer to give each employee an itemized wage statement — written or electronic — on each regular payday [^oh-stat-4113-14-paystub]. The statement must list the employee's name and address, the employer's name, gross and net wages, each addition and deduction, the pay date and pay period, and, for hourly workers, the hours worked, the hourly rate, and the hours worked in excess of forty in a workweek. The default semimonthly cadence is the same rule that fixes the ordinary payday for final-pay purposes: pay is due twice a month unless a longer lawful interval applies, and an employer may always pay more often. "Every employer doing business in this state shall, on or before the first day of each month, pay all its employees the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, pay such employees the wages earned by them during the last half of the preceding calendar month."[^oh-stat-4113-15-semimonthly] The Pay Stub Protection Act adds a transparency requirement that Ohio law previously lacked: a statement of earnings and deductions each payday. "Every employer shall provide each of the employer's employees with a written or electronic statement or access to a statement of the employee's earnings and deductions for each pay period on the employer's regular paydays."[^oh-stat-4113-14-paystub] The Act does not create a private damages action. An employee who does not receive a compliant statement makes a written request; the employer then has ten days to provide it; and the employee may report a continued failure to the director of commerce, who can require the employer to post a notice of the violation. ## Employee or independent contractor? {#worker-classification} **Short answer.** For wage-and-hour purposes, Ohio uses the FLSA economic-realities test — not a state ABC test. The implementing statute, enacted under Article II, section 34a, gives the terms *employer*, *employee*, *employ*, *person*, and *independent contractor* the same meanings they carry under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and directs that federal-court and U.S. Department of Labor interpretations receive due consideration and great weight [^oh-stat-4111-14-flsa]. Because the definition of who is an employee is borrowed from federal law, the classification question in a minimum-wage or overtime dispute is answered by the federal economic-realities analysis of whether the worker is economically dependent on the employer or in business for themselves. The definitional cross-reference is decisive: Ohio's wage statute does not write its own test — it adopts the FLSA's meanings wholesale. "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, the terms ‘employer,’ ‘employee,’ ‘employ,’ ‘person,’ and ‘independent contractor’ have the same meanings as in the ‘Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,’ 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. 203, as amended."[^oh-stat-4111-14-flsa] Outside the wage statutes, Ohio still uses the common-law right-of-control test for questions like tort liability, workers' compensation, and agency — so a worker can be an independent contractor for one purpose and an employee for another. For unpaid-wage and overtime claims, though, the FLSA economic-realities test governs. A bill introduced in the 136th General Assembly, House Bill 624, remains pending in committee; it would amend Sections 4111.03 and 4111.14 and enact a new Section 4111.20 to codify an express economic-reality test for the employee-or-independent-contractor question under Ohio's wage laws. It has not been enacted, so the borrowed FLSA test continues to control. ## Is a tip credit allowed? {#tip-credit} **Short answer.** Yes — a partial one. Article II, section 34a lets an employer pay a tipped employee a cash wage of not less than half the minimum wage, so long as the employer can demonstrate that tips plus cash wages equal or exceed the full minimum wage for all hours worked [^oh-const-34a-tip]. At the 2026 rates that means a tipped cash wage of $5.50 against the $11.00 minimum, with any shortfall between tips and the full wage made up by the employer. A tipped employee, the Department of Commerce explains, is one who customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars a month in tips [^oh-commerce-tipped]. The constitutional rule caps the credit at half the wage: the tipped cash wage can never fall below fifty per cent of the applicable minimum, and the tip-credit arithmetic must still reach the full minimum for every hour. "An employer may pay an employee less than, but not less than half, the minimum wage rate required by this section if the employer is able to demonstrate that the employee receives tips that combined with the wages paid by the employer are equal to or greater than the minimum wage rate for all hours worked."[^oh-const-34a-tip] Whether a worker qualifies as tipped in the first place turns on the same thirty-dollar-a-month threshold the FLSA uses. "‘Tipped Employees’ includes any employee who engages in an occupation in which he/she customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars ($30.00) per month in tips."[^oh-commerce-tipped] ## How is wage-and-hour law enforced? {#enforcement} **Short answer.** Ohio wage-and-hour law is enforced by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, and through private lawsuits [^q9-oh-commerce-division]. For a minimum-wage violation, the attorney general or an employee may bring an action for equitable and monetary relief ordinarily within three years of the violation, or its cessation for a continuing violation, or within one year after the state's final disposition of a complaint, whichever is later — including in the common pleas court of the employee's county of residence [^oh-stat-4111-14-action]. The remedy is substantial: a prevailing worker recovers back wages plus damages equal to an additional two times the back wages, together with the employee's costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and anti-retaliation violations carry a floor of one hundred fifty dollars for each day the violation continued [^oh-stat-4111-14-damages][^q9-oh-const-34a-remedies]. The minimum-wage action can be brought by the state or the worker, and the limitations period runs three years from the violation, or its cessation for a continuing violation, with a one-year-after-state-disposition alternative when that is later. "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, an action for equitable and monetary relief may be brought against an employer by the attorney general and/or an employee or person acting on behalf of an employee or all similarly situated employees in any court of competent jurisdiction, including the court of common pleas of an employee's county of residence, for any violation of Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, or any law or regulation implementing its provisions within three years of the violation or of when the violation ceased if it was of a continuing nature, or within one year after notification to the employee of final disposition by the state of a complaint for the same violation, whichever is later."[^oh-stat-4111-14-action] The damages provision doubles the back wages and sets a per-day floor for retaliation. "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, damages shall be calculated as an additional two times the amount of the back wages and in the case of a violation of an anti-retaliation provision an amount set by the state or court sufficient to compensate the employee and deter future violations, but not less than one hundred fifty dollars for each day that the violation continued."[^oh-stat-4111-14-damages] A separate overtime action lies under Section 4111.10, but it imposes a federal-style opt-in rule: no worker joins a collective overtime suit without first filing written consent. "No employee shall join as a party plaintiff in any civil action that is brought under this section by an employee, person acting on behalf of an employee, or person acting on behalf of all similarly situated employees unless that employee first gives written consent to become such a party plaintiff and that consent is filed with the court in which the action is brought."[^oh-stat-4111-10-optin] On the administrative side, the director of commerce may investigate wages and, if an employer blocks the inquiry, compel records and testimony by subpoena. "In the event the director is prohibited by any employer from carrying out the intent of this section, the director may issue subpoenas and compel attendance of witnesses and production of papers, books, accounts, payrolls, documents, records, and testimony relating and relevant to the director's investigation."[^oh-stat-4111-04-investigate] [^about]: By Steven Obiajulu, J.D. Published by [openagreements.org](https://openagreements.org). Last reviewed 2026-07-15. License: CC BY 4.0. Steven Obiajulu, J.D. is admitted in New York, not Ohio. This article synthesizes Ohio primary law and is not legal advice from a Ohio-admitted attorney. This article is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. CC BY 4.0. Cite as Steven Obiajulu, *Wage and Hour Law in Ohio*, OpenAgreements (last updated July 15, 2026), https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/ohio. [^oh-stat-4111-02-duty]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.02** — "Every employer, as defined in Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, shall pay each of the employer's employees at a wage rate of not less than the wage rate specified in Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.02.* [^oh-const-34a-index]: **Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a** — "On the thirtieth day of each September, beginning in 2007, this state minimum wage rate shall be increased effective the first day of the following January by the rate of inflation for the twelve month period prior to that September according to the consumer price index or its successor index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers for all items as calculated by the federal government rounded to the nearest five cents." *Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a.* [^oh-const-34a-threshold]: **Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a** — "Employees under the age of sixteen and employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or less for the preceding calendar year shall be paid a wage rate of not less than that established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or its successor law." *Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a.* [^oh-commerce-2026-nontipped]: **Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage** — "‘Employers’ who gross less than $405,000 shall pay their employees no less than the current federal minimum wage rate." *Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage.* [^oh-stat-4111-02-preempt]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.02** — "No political subdivision shall establish a minimum wage rate different from the wage rate required under this section." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.02.* [^oh-stat-4111-03-ot]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.03** — "Except as provided in section 4111.031 of the Revised Code, an employer shall pay an employee for overtime at a wage rate of one and one-half times the employee's wage rate for hours worked in excess of forty hours in one workweek, in the manner and methods provided in and subject to the exemptions of section 7 and section 13 of the ‘Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,’ 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 207, 213, as amended, and, effective beginning on the effective date of this amendment , sections 2 and 4 of the ‘Portal to Portal Act of 1947,’ 29 U.S.C. 252 and 254." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.03(A).* [^oh-commerce-ot-150k]: **Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage** — "An employer shall pay an employee for overtime at a wage rate of one and one-half times the employee’s wage rate for hours in excess of 40 hours in one work week, except for employers grossing less than $150,000 per year." *Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage.* [^oh-stat-4111-03-ag]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.03** — "Any employee employed in agriculture shall not be covered by the overtime provision of this section." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.03(A).* [^oh-stat-4111-031-portal]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.031** — "Except as provided in divisions (B) and (C) of this section, an employer is not required to pay the overtime wage rate under section 4111.03 of the Revised Code to an employee for any time that the employee spends performing any of the following activities: (a) Walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities that the employee is employed to perform; (b) Activities that are preliminary to or postliminary to the principal activity or activities; (c) Activities requiring insubstantial or insignificant periods of time beyond the employee's scheduled working hours." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.031(A)(1).* [^oh-stat-4109-07-break]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4109.07** — "No employer shall employ a minor more than five consecutive hours without allowing the minor a rest period of at least thirty minutes." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4109.07(C).* [^oh-stat-4109-99-penalty]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4109.99** — "Whoever violates section 4109.04, division (C) of section 4109.07, division (A), (B), or (D) of section 4109.08, section 4109.11, or division (B) of section 4109.12 of the Revised Code is guilty of a minor misdemeanor." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4109.99(A).* [^oh-stat-4113-15-payday]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15** — "Every employer doing business in this state shall, on or before the first day of each month, pay all its employees the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, pay such employees the wages earned by them during the last half of the preceding calendar month." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(A).* [^oh-stat-4113-15-penalty]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15** — "Where wages remain unpaid for thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday or, in the case where no regularly scheduled payday is applicable, for sixty days beyond the filing by the employee of a claim or for sixty days beyond the date of the agreement, award, or other act making wages payable and no contest court order or dispute of any wage claim including the assertion of a counterclaim exists accounting for nonpayment, the employer, in addition, as liquidated damages, is liable to the employee in an amount equal to six per cent of the amount of the claim still unpaid and not in contest or disputed or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(B).* [^oh-stat-4113-15-semimonthly]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15** — "Every employer doing business in this state shall, on or before the first day of each month, pay all its employees the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, pay such employees the wages earned by them during the last half of the preceding calendar month." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.15(A).* [^oh-stat-4113-14-paystub]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.14** — "Every employer shall provide each of the employer's employees with a written or electronic statement or access to a statement of the employee's earnings and deductions for each pay period on the employer's regular paydays." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.14(B).* [^oh-stat-4111-14-flsa]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14** — "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, the terms ‘employer,’ ‘employee,’ ‘employ,’ ‘person,’ and ‘independent contractor’ have the same meanings as in the ‘Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,’ 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. 203, as amended." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14(B).* [^oh-const-34a-tip]: **Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a** — "An employer may pay an employee less than, but not less than half, the minimum wage rate required by this section if the employer is able to demonstrate that the employee receives tips that combined with the wages paid by the employer are equal to or greater than the minimum wage rate for all hours worked." *Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a.* [^oh-commerce-tipped]: **Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage** — "‘Tipped Employees’ includes any employee who engages in an occupation in which he/she customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars ($30.00) per month in tips." *Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage.* [^q9-oh-commerce-division]: **Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage** — "For further information about minimum wage issues, please contact: The Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, 6606 Tussing Road, Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068." *Ohio Department of Commerce, 2026 Minimum Wage.* [^oh-stat-4111-14-action]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14** — "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, an action for equitable and monetary relief may be brought against an employer by the attorney general and/or an employee or person acting on behalf of an employee or all similarly situated employees in any court of competent jurisdiction, including the court of common pleas of an employee's county of residence, for any violation of Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, or any law or regulation implementing its provisions within three years of the violation or of when the violation ceased if it was of a continuing nature, or within one year after notification to the employee of final disposition by the state of a complaint for the same violation, whichever is later." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14(K).* [^oh-stat-4111-14-damages]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14** — "In accordance with Section 34a of Article II, Ohio Constitution, damages shall be calculated as an additional two times the amount of the back wages and in the case of a violation of an anti-retaliation provision an amount set by the state or court sufficient to compensate the employee and deter future violations, but not less than one hundred fifty dollars for each day that the violation continued." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.14(J).* [^q9-oh-const-34a-remedies]: **Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a** — "Where an employer is found by the state or a court to have violated any provision of this section, the employer shall within thirty days of the finding pay the employee back wages, damages, and the employee's costs and reasonable attorney's fees." *Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a.* [^oh-stat-4111-10-optin]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.10** — "No employee shall join as a party plaintiff in any civil action that is brought under this section by an employee, person acting on behalf of an employee, or person acting on behalf of all similarly situated employees unless that employee first gives written consent to become such a party plaintiff and that consent is filed with the court in which the action is brought." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.10(C).* [^oh-stat-4111-04-investigate]: **Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.04** — "In the event the director is prohibited by any employer from carrying out the intent of this section, the director may issue subpoenas and compel attendance of witnesses and production of papers, books, accounts, payrolls, documents, records, and testimony relating and relevant to the director's investigation." *Ohio Rev. Code § 4111.04(C).*