Ohio Severance Pay Laws (2026): Is Severance Required?

No. We found no section of the Ohio Revised Code that requires a private employer to pay severance, and federal law does not require it either. Ohio's statutes deal with severance in two other ways: Ohio Revised Code section 4141.31 reduces weekly unemployment benefits by separation or termination pay, and section 4113.15 lists "separation" pay among the fringe benefits and, absent a contest, court order or dispute, makes an employer that agrees to provide them a trustee of the funds the agreement requires it to pay.

Ohio also has a WARN section, R.C. 4113.31, which adopts the federal WARN Act's 60-day notice rule, adds Ohio requirements for what the notices must say, and requires no payment. For how other states handle severance, see our severance pay laws by state guide.

Information last verified on October 8, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Ohio law on severance pay: the WARN-compliance section (R.C. 4113.31), the wage-payment statute (R.C. 4113.15 and 4113.16), the severance rules of Ohio's unemployment law (R.C. 4141.31 and 4141.32), and the limits Ohio puts on what a severance agreement can waive, with short notes on the federal rules that apply in Ohio. Ohio statutes are quoted from the official Ohio Revised Code text, checked on October 9, 2026. This article does not cover when your last regular paycheck is due; see Ohio final paycheck laws. It does not cover benefit amounts or how to file; see Ohio unemployment benefits.

Is severance pay required in Ohio?

No Ohio statute we found requires severance. We searched the Ohio Revised Code, as retrieved July 31, 2026, for "severance," "separation pay" and "termination pay" across the labor and employment chapters (4101 through 4141) and the rest of the code, and read the key sections in full. The only hits that matter to a laid-off worker are the unemployment offset in R.C. 4141.31 and the fringe-benefit definition in R.C. 4113.15(D)(2); every other hit concerned something else, such as the severance tax on coal and oil.

That is a strong finding but not an exhaustive one: it rests on a keyword search of the code, and the Ohio Administrative Code was not part of it. A keyword search of the 2025-2026 bill index on October 9, 2026 found no pending bill that would require severance. Federal law does not fill the gap. The U.S. Department of Labor says there is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act for severance pay and that severance is a matter of agreement between employer and employee.

So severance in Ohio comes from a promise: an employment contract, a company policy or plan, a union contract, or a separation agreement. Whether your employer could end your job in the first place is a separate question, covered on our Ohio at-will employment page.

Does Ohio have a WARN Act?

Yes. It adopts the federal WARN Act's coverage and 60-day notice rule, and it adds Ohio requirements for what the notices must say. Ohio Revised Code section 4113.31, titled "Compliance with federal WARN Act," makes the federal notice rule a state duty and says so in plain terms:

"The requirements specified in this section do not establish a different standard than that established by federal statutes and regulations." (R.C. 4113.31)

The section applies when an employer has 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week and lays off 50 or more employees at a single site during any 30-day period. "Employer," "mass layoff" and "plant closing" carry their meanings under the federal WARN Act and 20 C.F.R. 639.3. Here is what it requires:

The section does not set its own Ohio penalty or back-pay formula. The federal remedy it points to is back pay and benefits for each day of the violation, up to 60 days and no more than half the days the employee worked there (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)). Our severance pay laws guide covers the federal thresholds and exceptions.

Employers file WARN notices with the Rapid Response Unit of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), which publishes a WARN Notice Submission Form, JFS 00039. R.C. 4113.31 was enacted by House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly and took effect September 30, 2025.

Is promised severance a "wage" under Ohio law?

Ohio's wage-payment statute names severance, but only as a fringe benefit. Ohio Revised Code section 4113.15(D)(2) provides:

"Fringe benefits" includes but is not limited to health, welfare, or retirement benefits, whether paid for entirely by the employer or on the basis of a joint employer-employee contribution, or vacation, separation, or holiday pay. (R.C. 4113.15(D)(2))

That matters because of division (C), which provides that "an employer who is party to an agreement to pay or provide fringe benefits to an employee or to make any employee authorized deduction becomes a trustee of any funds required by such agreement to be paid to any person, organization, or governmental agency from the time that the duty to make such payment arises." So when an employer has agreed to provide separation pay as a fringe benefit, division (C) makes it a trustee of the funds that agreement requires it to pay. We found no Ohio decision applying that clause to severance owed directly to an employee.

What the statute does not settle is whether promised severance is also a "wage" under the section's separate wage definition. That matters for the section's liquidated-damages rule: when wages go unpaid 30 days past the regular payday and the claim is not contested or disputed, the employer is also liable for "six per cent of the amount of the claim still unpaid and not in contest or disputed or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater" (R.C. 4113.15(B)). We did not find an Ohio court decision applying that rule to severance, so treat it as an open question. R.C. 4113.16 adds that an employer may not exempt itself from section 4113.15 "by a special contract with an employee or by other means."

If severance was promised and not paid, the claim may also be a breach-of-contract claim. Ohio's deadline to sue is six years on a written contract (R.C. 2305.06) and four years on a contract not in writing (R.C. 2305.07(A)); which one applies depends on the document. We could not confirm which state agency, if any, accepts a complaint about unpaid severance.

If the severance comes from a formal company plan, federal law may govern it instead: ERISA supersedes state laws that relate to covered employee benefit plans (29 U.S.C. 1144(a)), and the U.S. Department of Labor says its Employee Benefits Security Administration may assist an employee who did not receive severance benefits under an employer-sponsored plan.

When must severance be paid in Ohio?

No Ohio statute we found sets a deadline for severance itself. R.C. 4113.15(A) sets semimonthly paydays for "wages earned," requiring employers to pay by the first of each month "the wages earned by them during the first half of the preceding month ending with the fifteenth day thereof," and allows a different time lapse set by written contract or operation of law. It does not say when severance is due.

In practice, the payment date for severance is whatever the agreement, policy or plan says, so keep a copy of the document that promised it. For your last regular paycheck, see Ohio final paycheck laws.

Severance and Ohio unemployment benefits

Severance reduces Ohio unemployment benefits. Ohio Revised Code section 4141.31(A) reduces benefits for a week by several kinds of remuneration, including:

"(1) Remuneration in lieu of notice;" "(4) Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, remuneration in the form of separation or termination pay paid to an employee at the time of the employee's separation from employment;" (R.C. 4141.31(A))

ODJFS's guide to how benefits are calculated says the same thing in plain words: "Severance pay allocated by the employer to a week(s) following the date of separation is deductible from unemployment benefits." It lists severance pay among the types of income that may be deductible, and says that in certain cases the entire amount may be deducted from your benefits. How the payment is assigned decides which weeks it reduces:

R.C. 4141.31 also converts a payment made for a month into a weekly figure before applying it. If you are offered a voluntary buyout, note that R.C. 4141.29(D)(2)(a)(ii) lists, as an exception to the disqualification for quitting without just cause, a separation under a labor-management contract or an established employer plan, program or policy "which permits the employee, because of lack of work, to accept a separation from employment." ODJFS also lists company buy-out plans among payments that may be deductible from benefits. Ask ODJFS how both rules apply to your separation. For benefit amounts and filing, see Ohio unemployment benefits.

What an Ohio severance agreement can and cannot require

Ohio law puts two clear limits on what a release can take from you:

• Unemployment benefits. Ohio Revised Code section 4141.32 provides that "No agreement by an employee to waive his right to benefits is valid." A severance agreement cannot sign away your right to claim unemployment.
• Workers' compensation. R.C. 4123.80 provides that "No agreement by an employee to waive an employee's rights to compensation under this chapter is valid," with narrow exceptions the section lists (a waiver by a blind employee, and waivers authorized under R.C. 4123.01(C)(3) or 4123.15). See Ohio workers' compensation laws.

Unpaid wages are less clear. R.C. 4113.16 bars an employer from exempting itself from the wage-payment statute by special contract, and R.C. 4111.10(A) says an agreement to work for less than the overtime rate "is no defense to an action." Neither section addresses a release of a wage claim signed after a dispute arises, and we found no Ohio decision on it.

If a release covers Ohio discrimination claims, know what you would be giving up: an Ohio employment-discrimination lawsuit generally may be filed only after a charge to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which is due within two years after the discriminatory act (R.C. 4112.052(B)(1), 4112.051), and the lawsuit itself "shall be filed within two years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed" (R.C. 4112.052(C)(1)), subject to exceptions in R.C. 4112.052 that we did not review.

Apart from the unemployment and workers' compensation rules above, we found no Ohio statute that regulates confidentiality, non-disparagement or release terms in a private severance agreement, or that sets a state review or revocation period. That finding rests on a keyword search of the code and a reading of the civil-rights and wage chapters, so treat it as strong but not exhaustive.

Federal law adds its own limits. If you are 40 or older, a release of federal age-discrimination claims must give you at least 21 days to consider it (45 days in a group layoff) and 7 days to revoke it after signing (29 U.S.C. 626(f)). The federal limits on confidentiality and labor-law waivers are explained on our severance pay laws guide.

Non-compete terms in a severance agreement

Under Raimonde v. Van Vlerah, 42 Ohio St.2d 21 (1975), a covenant not to compete is reasonable if it is no greater than is required to protect the employer, does not impose undue hardship on the employee, and is not injurious to the public, and an Ohio court may modify an unreasonable one and enforce it to the extent necessary to protect the employer's legitimate interests.

Senate Bill 11, introduced in the 136th General Assembly, would prohibit agreements that restrain a worker from engaging in a lawful profession or business after employment ends; as of October 9, 2026 it was in Senate committee and is not law.

Reading an Ohio severance offer

Check whether the agreement assigns the payment to specific weeks, because under R.C. 4141.31 that allocation, or its absence, decides which weeks of unemployment benefits it reduces. Keep the written agreement or policy, since a written promise carries a longer deadline to sue (R.C. 2305.06). Any clause that claims to waive your unemployment or workers' compensation rights is not valid under R.C. 4141.32 and 4123.80. Our severance pay laws guide has general guidance on reading and negotiating an offer.

Recent and pending Ohio changes

R.C. 4113.31, the WARN-compliance section, was enacted by House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly, the state operating budget, and took effect September 30, 2025.

A keyword search of the 136th General Assembly's bill index on October 9, 2026 found no pending bill that would require severance or change Ohio's layoff-notice rules or the unemployment and waiver rules described here, apart from Senate Bill 11 (see the non-compete section above). Senate Bill 423, which has passed the Senate, and House Bill 277, introduced in the House, would amend R.C. 4113.15 to specify that a health care worker is not the employee of a health care worker platform or health care facility under certain circumstances.

The statutes quoted here were checked against the official code text on October 9, 2026. Check the Ohio Legislature's site before relying on any of them for a decision.

Related

• Severance pay laws by state
• Ohio unemployment benefits
• Ohio final paycheck laws
• Ohio workers' compensation laws
• Ohio at-will employment laws

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Ohio severance pay law (R.C. 4113.15, 4113.16, 4113.31, 4141.31, 4141.32 and related sections of the Ohio Revised Code) and the federal laws that apply in Ohio. It is not legal advice. The information was verified on October 8, 2026, and the Ohio statute text quoted here was checked against the official code on October 9, 2026. For advice about your situation, contact the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services about unemployment benefits, a legal aid office, or a lawyer licensed in Ohio.

Last updated: October 8, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is severance pay required by law in Ohio?

No. We found no section of the Ohio Revised Code that requires a private employer to pay severance, and the U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act has no severance requirement. Severance in Ohio comes from a contract, policy, plan or separation agreement.

Does Ohio have its own WARN Act?

Ohio has a WARN section, R.C. 4113.31, which adopts the federal WARN Act's standard: 60 days' written notice from an employer with 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week laying off 50 or more at one site, with copies to the ODJFS director and local officials. It also lists what the notices must contain, such as the reason for the layoff and how to access unemployment benefits. It sets no separate Ohio payment.

Does severance affect unemployment in Ohio?

Yes. R.C. 4141.31(A)(4) reduces weekly benefits by separation or termination pay paid at the time of separation, and ODJFS says severance the employer allocates to weeks after your separation is deductible.

Will a lump-sum severance stop my Ohio unemployment benefits?

It can delay them. If the payment is not designated for a period, R.C. 4141.31 counts an amount equal to your normal weekly wage against the first and each following week after separation until the payment is exhausted.

Is severance considered wages in Ohio?

Ohio's statute does not settle it. R.C. 4113.15(D)(2) lists "separation" pay as a fringe benefit, but we found no Ohio court decision on whether promised severance is a "wage" under that section.

Can a severance agreement make me give up unemployment benefits in Ohio?

No. R.C. 4141.32 says no agreement by an employee to waive the right to unemployment benefits is valid.

How long do I have to sue over unpaid severance in Ohio?

If the claim is for breach of the severance promise, Ohio's contract deadlines are six years for a written contract (R.C. 2305.06) and four years for one not in writing (R.C. 2305.07(A)). Which applies depends on the document.

How long do I have to sign a severance agreement in Ohio?

We found no Ohio statute that sets a review or revocation period. If you are 40 or older, federal law gives you at least 21 days to consider a release of age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and 7 days to revoke it (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).