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Ohio Industrial Commission Decisions No Longer Public

By Cleveland Law Library

pAccording to an article by a href=http://www.calfee.com/OURPEOPLE/RT/rossw.aspWilliam Ross/a in the September/October issue of the a href=http://west.thomson.com/productdetail/2996/22114553/productdetail.aspxWorkers#39; Compensation Journal of Ohio/a, decisions issued by the a href=https://www.ohioic.com/Ohio Industrial Commission/a are not public documents. Ross points to a href=http://lsc.state.oh.us/coderev/sen126.nsf/Senate+Bill+Number/0007?OpenDocumentSB 7/a amendments to a href=http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4123.88O.R.C. sec. 4123.88/a which indicate that records containing personal identifying information of workers#39; compensation claimants are no longer public records. Ross identifies the significant draw-backs to anyone appearing before the Commission who no longer has the benefit of prior authority on which to rely or dispute. Ross indicates that the change#0160;was a reaction by the General Assembly to perceptions that claimants were being hounded by mass solicitations. Small changes were made to section 4123.88 when Ohio adopted a href=http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_9HB 9/a containing a massive revision of#0160;Ohio#39;s public records laws./p

Full post as published by Cleveland Law Library Weblog on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).