Ohio Workplace Harassment Laws: 4-Employee Rule, 2-Year Deadline

Workplace harassment because of a protected trait is unlawful in Ohio under Ohio Revised Code 4112.02(A), the employment section of the Ohio Civil Rights Act, which reaches it through the ban on discrimination "with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment." The Ohio Civil Rights Commission's own rule says so directly for sex: "Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of division (A) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code" (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(1)).

The law covers the state, its political subdivisions and any person employing four or more persons within Ohio (R.C. 4112.01(A)(2)), and the Ohio Supreme Court applies a severe-or-pervasive standard to hostile-environment sexual harassment claims. For other states, see workplace harassment laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Ohio state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors, coworkers and nonemployees under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112 (chiefly 4112.01, 4112.02, 4112.051, 4112.052, 4112.054 and 4112.08) and Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full charge and lawsuit procedure (see Ohio wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, local ordinances, or federal-employee procedure.

Ohio harassment rules at a glance

What Ohio law prohibits

Section 4112.02(A) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice:

"For any employer, because of the race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry of any person, to discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate against that person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment." (R.C. 4112.02(A))

The section does not use the word harassment. Harassment because of a listed trait is a form of discrimination in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission's rule on sex discrimination spells that out for sexual harassment.

The commission's sexual harassment rule

Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(1) states that "Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of division (A) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code." It continues that unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment under listed conditions, including when:

"(c) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment." (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(1)(c))

The rule also says how the commission evaluates a claim: it "will look at the record as a whole and the totality of the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred," and "The determination of the legality of a particular action will be made from the facts on a case-by-case basis" (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(2)).

Quid pro quo and hostile environment

The Ohio Supreme Court recognized two types of sexual harassment under R.C. 4112.02(A) in Hampel v. Food Ingredients Specialties, Inc., 89 Ohio St.3d 169 (2000): "(1) 'quid pro quo' harassment, i.e., harassment that is directly linked to the grant or denial of a tangible economic benefit, or (2) 'hostile environment' harassment, i.e., harassment that, while not affecting economic benefits, has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile or abusive working environment."

Which Ohio employers are covered

Ohio's threshold is low and it is the same for harassment as for every other kind of employment discrimination under Chapter 4112. Section 4112.01(A)(2) provides:

"'Employer' means the state, any political subdivision of the state, or a person employing four or more persons within the state, and any agent of the state, political subdivision, or person."

Two details follow from the text. Government employers are covered without a head count, and the four persons must be employed "within the state." The definition of employee in R.C. 4112.01(A)(3) "does not include any individual employed in the domestic service of any person."

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission's employment page states the same rule for its charges: "Charges of discrimination can be filed against employers with four (4) or more employees." Federal Title VII, by comparison, defines an employer as one with "fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year" (42 U.S.C. 2000e(b)), so an Ohio business with four to fourteen employees is within the state law but outside Title VII.

Protected traits under Ohio law

R.C. 4112.02(A) protects against discrimination, including harassment, because of:

• race
• color
• religion
• sex, which under R.C. 4112.01(B) includes pregnancy, any illness arising out of and occurring during the course of a pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
• military status
• national origin
• disability
• age, which R.C. 4112.01(A)(14) defines, except as provided in R.C. 4112.021, as "an individual aged forty years or older"
• ancestry

Sexual orientation and gender identity are not named in R.C. 4112.02(A); federal coverage is explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

The legal standard: severe or pervasive

Ohio has not set its own statutory standard for a hostile environment. In Hampel, the Ohio Supreme Court held that to establish hostile-environment sexual harassment, a plaintiff must show:

"(1) that the harassment was unwelcome, (2) that the harassment was based on sex, (3) that the harassing conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive to affect the 'terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment,' and (4) that either (a) the harassment was committed by a supervisor, or (b) the employer, through its agents or supervisory personnel, knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action." (Hampel v. Food Ingredients Specialties, Inc., 89 Ohio St.3d 169 (2000))

The severe-or-pervasive element comes from that decision, not from the statute. Whether particular conduct meets it is decided on the facts of each case.

When the employer is responsible

Ohio's rules on employer responsibility depend on who did the harassing.

Harassment by a supervisor

The commission's rule states that an employer "is responsible for its acts and those of its agents and supervisory employees with respect to sexual harassment regardless of whether the specific acts complained of were authorized or even forbidden by the employer and regardless of whether the employer knew or should have known of their occurrence," subject to the affirmative defense in R.C. 4112.054(B) (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(3)).

In 2021 the General Assembly codified an affirmative defense for supervisor harassment in R.C. 4112.054. Under division (B), an employer may raise the defense to vicarious liability for "a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim in which the hostile work environment was created by a supervisor with immediate or successively higher authority over the employee," if the employer proves both of the following by a preponderance of the evidence:

"(1) The employer exercised reasonable care to prevent or promptly correct any sexually harassing behavior. (2) The employee alleging the hostile work environment unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise." (R.C. 4112.054(B))

Division (C) limits the defense: it "is not available to an employer if the supervisor's harassment resulted in a tangible employment action against the employee." The two prongs are joined: the employer must prove both.

Harassment by coworkers and customers

The commission's rule sets the test for harassment by others. For coworkers, "an employer is responsible for acts of sexual harassment in the work place where the employer (or its agents or supervisory employees) knows or should have known of the conduct, unless the employer can show that it took immediate and appropriate corrective action" (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(4)).

For people who are not employees, "An employer may also be responsible for the acts of nonemployees (e.g., customers) with respect to sexual harassment of employees in the work place, where the employer (or its agents or supervisory employees) knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action" (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(5)).

Can an individual harasser be sued in Ohio?

Since April 15, 2021, Ohio law limits claims against individual supervisors and coworkers. R.C. 4112.08(A) provides:

"However, no person has a cause of action or claim based on an unlawful discriminatory practice relating to employment described in division (A)(24)(a) of section 4112.01 of the Revised Code against a supervisor, manager, or other employee of an employer unless that supervisor, manager, or other employee is the employer. Nothing in this division abrogates statutory claims outside this chapter or any claims of liability that exist against an individual at common law." (R.C. 4112.08(A))

The bar is limited to the practices described in R.C. 4112.01(A)(24)(a), and it does not reach a supervisor, manager or other employee who "is the employer." Two clauses of R.C. 4112.02 are written to apply to "any person" rather than to an employer: division (I), the retaliation clause, and division (J), which makes it unlawful "For any person to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act declared by this section to be an unlawful discriminatory practice."

Retaliation for complaining

R.C. 4112.02(I) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice "For any person to discriminate in any manner against any other person because that person has opposed any unlawful discriminatory practice defined in this section or because that person has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under sections 4112.01 to 4112.07 of the Revised Code." A firing after a complaint, and how it fits with Ohio's default employment rule, is covered on the Ohio at-will employment and Ohio wrongful termination pages.

Deadlines and where to file

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission takes employment charges, and its employment page lists harassment among the subjects it covers. Ohio has no separate deadline for harassment.

• Commission charge: "A charge under this section shall be in writing, under oath, and shall be filed with the commission within two years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed" (R.C. 4112.051(C)(2)). A charge timely received by fax, mail, email or otherwise "may be signed under oath after the limitations period" and "will relate back to the original filing date" (R.C. 4112.051(C)(4)).
• Lawsuit: a civil action under R.C. 4112.052 "shall be filed within two years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed" (R.C. 4112.052(C)(1)), subject to the tolling periods in division (C)(2). One of them applies when a charge on the same allegations was filed with the commission less than sixty days before the charge deadline expires: the lawsuit period is then tolled from the date the charge was filed until sixty days after the charge is no longer pending with the commission. Except for a suit seeking only injunctive relief or the route in division (B)(2)(b) for a person who filed timely charges with both the commission and the EEOC and received an EEOC notice that the person may bring a civil action, a civil action may be filed only after the person has first filed a timely charge with the commission and then received a notice of right to sue or met another condition in division (B)(1)(b) (R.C. 4112.052(B)).
• Federal charge: the EEOC's Cleveland Field Office states that "An individual has 300 days from the date of alleged harm to file a charge with this office against an employer with 15 or more employees for discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, and/or disability in the state of Ohio," and that charges against smaller employers "must be filed with the appropriate state agency within the time limits prescribed by state law. These time limits are 2 years in the state of Ohio."

The right-to-sue steps and the remedies a court can order are covered on the Ohio wrongful termination page. An employment discrimination civil action is brought under R.C. 4112.052; R.C. 4112.99(B) provides that "A person is prohibited from bringing a civil action for employment discrimination under this section." The Ohio employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Training and written policies

Chapter 4112 of the Revised Code contains no section requiring private employers to provide harassment training or to adopt a written anti-harassment policy, and the titles of Chapter 4113 contain none either. The commission's sexual harassment rule addresses prevention in advisory terms: "An employer should take all steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment" (Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(6)). Prevention efforts matter in a different way under R.C. 4112.054, where an employer raising the supervisor-harassment defense must prove it "exercised reasonable care to prevent or promptly correct any sexually harassing behavior."

NDAs, confidentiality and arbitration

Chapter 4112 contains no provision limiting nondisclosure, confidentiality or arbitration terms in harassment agreements or settlements. Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes: the Speak Out Act makes nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses agreed to before a sexual harassment dispute arises judicially unenforceable where the conduct is alleged to violate federal, tribal or state law, and the Ending Forced Arbitration Act lets the person alleging sexual harassment elect court over a predispute arbitration agreement; both are explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Ohio?

R.C. 4112.02(A) reaches conduct "because of" the race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age or ancestry of a person. Chapter 4112 contains no provision on general workplace bullying that is not tied to one of those traits.

Civil stalking protection orders

Outside the employment statutes, a person may petition a court for a civil stalking protection order under R.C. 2903.214 on an allegation that a respondent eighteen or older engaged in menacing by stalking (R.C. 2903.211) or committed a sexually oriented offense against the person to be protected (R.C. 2903.214(C)(1)). The order may include "a requirement that the respondent refrain from entering the residence, school, business, or place of employment of the petitioner or family or household member" (R.C. 2903.214(E)(1)(a)). The petition is brought by the person seeking protection, or by a parent or adult household member on behalf of a family or household member (R.C. 2903.214(C)); the section is not an employer-filed workplace order.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

The rules on recording a conversation at work, including a conversation with a harasser, are on the Ohio workplace recording laws page. Employer monitoring of email, devices and workspaces is covered on the Ohio employee monitoring laws page.

Recent changes to Ohio harassment law

• 2021: H.B. 352 (133rd General Assembly), effective April 15, 2021, enacted the supervisor-harassment affirmative defense in R.C. 4112.054, limited claims against individual supervisors and coworkers in R.C. 4112.08(A), and set the current two-year charge and lawsuit limits in R.C. 4112.051 and 4112.052.

Related pages

• Workplace harassment laws by state
• Ohio wrongful termination
• Ohio at-will employment laws
• Ohio employee monitoring laws
• Ohio workplace recording laws

This article provides general legal information about Ohio workplace harassment law under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112 and Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05 as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Ohio or the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is workplace harassment illegal in Ohio?

Harassment because of a protected trait is reached by R.C. 4112.02(A), which bars employers with four or more employees in Ohio from discriminating with respect to the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission's rule, Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(1), states that harassment on the basis of sex violates that division.

How many employees does an employer need for Ohio harassment law to apply?

Four. R.C. 4112.01(A)(2) defines an employer as the state, any political subdivision, or a person employing four or more persons within the state. Ohio uses the same threshold for harassment and other discrimination claims.

What is a hostile work environment under Ohio law?

In Hampel v. Food Ingredients Specialties (2000), the Ohio Supreme Court held that hostile-environment sexual harassment must be unwelcome, based on sex, and sufficiently severe or pervasive to affect the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, with a supervisor link or employer knowledge and failure to correct.

How long do you have to file a harassment charge in Ohio?

A charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission must be filed within two years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed (R.C. 4112.051(C)(2)). A civil action under R.C. 4112.052 also has a two-year limit, tolled in the situations listed in division (C)(2), and except for a suit seeking only injunctive relief or a dual-filed EEOC route, it may be filed only after a timely charge with the commission (R.C. 4112.052(B)).

Can you sue a supervisor personally for harassment in Ohio?

R.C. 4112.08(A) bars claims under the employment practices described in R.C. 4112.01(A)(24)(a) against a supervisor, manager or other employee unless that person is the employer. The section preserves statutory claims outside Chapter 4112 and common-law claims against individuals, and the retaliation and aiding-and-abetting clauses in R.C. 4112.02(I) and (J) are written to apply to any person.

Is an Ohio employer responsible for harassment by a customer?

Under Ohio Adm.Code 4112-5-05(J)(5), an employer may be responsible for sexual harassment of employees by nonemployees, such as customers, where it or its agents or supervisory employees knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.

Does Ohio require sexual harassment training?

Chapter 4112 of the Revised Code contains no training or written-policy requirement for private employers. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission's rule states that an employer should take all steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment, which is a recommendation rather than a mandate.

Is sexual orientation protected under Ohio's employment discrimination law?

R.C. 4112.02(A) lists race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age and ancestry; sexual orientation and gender identity are not named in that list. Federal coverage is explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Ohio?

R.C. 4112.02(A) reaches discrimination because of the traits it lists. It contains no provision on general workplace bullying that is not tied to one of those traits.