Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 124
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 124.38 (2026)

Sick leave

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
March 20, 2025
Latest Legislation:
Senate Bill 196 - 135th General Assembly
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Each of the following shall be entitled for each completed eighty hours of service to sick leave of four and six-tenths hours with pay:

(A) Employees in the various offices of the county, municipal, and civil service township service, other than superintendents and management employees, as defined in section 5126.20 of the Revised Code, of county boards of developmental disabilities;

(B) Employees of any state college or university;

(C) Any employee of any board of education for whom sick leave is not provided by section 3319.141 of the Revised Code, provided that the employee is not a substitute, adult education instructor who is scheduled to work the full-time equivalent of less than one hundred twenty days per school year, or a person who is employed on an as-needed, seasonal, or intermittent basis.

Employees may use sick leave, upon approval of the responsible administrative officer of the employing unit, for absence due to personal illness, pregnancy, injury, exposure to contagious disease that could be communicated to other employees, and illness, injury, or death in the employee's immediate family. Unused sick leave shall be cumulative without limit. When sick leave is used, it shall be deducted from the employee's credit on the basis of one hour for every one hour of absence from previously scheduled work.

The previously accumulated sick leave of an employee who has been separated from the public service shall be placed to the employee's credit upon the employee's re-employment in the public service, provided that the re-employment takes place within ten years of the date on which the employee was last terminated from public service. This ten-year period shall be tolled for any period during which the employee holds elective public office, whether by election or by appointment.

An employee who transfers from one public agency to another shall be credited with the unused balance of the employee's accumulated sick leave up to the maximum of the sick leave accumulation permitted in the public agency to which the employee transfers.

The appointing authorities of the various offices of the county service may permit all or any part of a person's accrued but unused sick leave acquired during service with any regional council of government established in accordance with Chapter 167. of the Revised Code to be credited to the employee upon a transfer as if the employee were transferring from one public agency to another under this section.

The appointing authority of each employing unit shall require an employee to furnish a satisfactory written, signed statement to justify the use of sick leave. If medical attention is required, a certificate stating the nature of the illness from a licensed physician, certified nurse-midwife, clinical nurse specialist, or certified nurse practitioner shall be required to justify the use of sick leave. Falsification of either the statement or the certificate shall be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal.

This section does not interfere with existing unused sick leave credit in any agency of government where attendance records are maintained and credit has been given employees for unused sick leave.

Notwithstanding this section or any other section of the Revised Code, any appointing authority of a county office, department, commission, board, or body may, upon notification to the board of county commissioners, establish alternative schedules of sick leave for employees of the appointing authority for whom the state employment relations board has not established an appropriate bargaining unit pursuant to section 4117.06 of the Revised Code, as long as the alternative schedules are not inconsistent with the provisions of at least one collective bargaining agreement covering other employees of that appointing authority, if such a collective bargaining agreement exists. If no such collective bargaining agreement exists, an appointing authority may, upon notification to the board of county commissioners, establish an alternative schedule of sick leave for its employees that does not diminish the sick leave benefits granted by this section.

Last updated February 18, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 30 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1983–2025 · leading case: South Euclid Fraternal Order of Police v. D'Amico, 468 N.E.2d 735 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983).
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South Euclid Fraternal Order of Police v. D'Amico, 468 N.E.2d 735 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 11× “’s position is that R.C. 124.38 has uniform application throughout the state and that a city, even a charter city, may not enact an ordinance which limits or restricts the effort of R.”
Carroll v. Dep't of Admin. Servs., 460 N.E.2d 704 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 3× “” In adopting the rule, the Director of Administrative Services noted that he was relying upon R.C. 124.38 as statutory authority for the rule.”
Steinhour v. Ohio State Univ., 577 N.E.2d 413 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 20× “The court of common pleas erred in finding that the provisions of OAC 3335-79-06(B) and other departmental rules regarding sick leave policies used by defendants are in clear conflict with ORC Chapters 119 and 124 and therefore invalid as outside the scope of power granted by…”
Johnson v. City of Franklin, 580 N.E.2d 1142 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 3× “38 provides, in part: “Each of the following shall be entitled for each completed eighty hours of service to sick leave of four and six-tenths hours with pay: “(A) Employees in the various offices of the county, municipal, and civil service township service[.”
Traub v. Warren Cnty. Bd. of Commissioners, 683 N.E.2d 411 (Ohio Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 4× “Because the proper uses of sick leave were set forth in R.C. 124.38, the hearing officer decided that appellant could’ not use ignorance of the law as an excuse, but instead had to be “held accountable to at least be aware of the existence of the laws that pertain to him.”
State ex rel. Mun. Constr. Equip. Operators' Labor Council v. City of Cleveland, 114 Ohio St. 3d 183 (Ohio 2007). · cites it 3× “31 of its codified ordinances, which excepts “hourly rate craft employees paid on the basis of building trades prevailing wages” from the general right to sick leave with pay afforded all other “full-time annual rate City employees and all full-time hourly rate employees.”
Consolo v. City of Cleveland, 815 N.E.2d 1114 (Ohio 2004). “{¶ 3} As part of their claim regarding prevailing wages, appellees allege that the city has violated R.C. 124.38 in failing to provide paid sick leave and has treated appellees differently from similarly situated city employees by failing to provide certain employment benefits…”
Runyan v. Bd. of Educ. of the Covington Exempted Vill. Sch. Dist., 614 F. Supp. 625 (S.D. Ohio 1985). · cites it 32× “Article VII, Section 1(A)(3) of the collective bargaining agreement similarly provides that “[ejmployees may use sick leave for absence due to illness, injury, incapacitation due to pregnancy, exposure to contagious disease which could be communicated to other employees if…”
South Euclid Fraternal Order of Police v. D'Amico, 505 N.E.2d 268 (Ohio 1987). “In so holding, we do not address the question of whether the ordinance sub judice was enacted in contravention of R.C. 124.38.”
Hundley v. Dayton Power & Light Co., 774 N.E.2d 330 (Ohio Ct. App. 2002). “See R.C. 124.38 (providing that employees of various county, municipal, and township offices, state universities, and boards of education may use sick leave for absence due to illness, injury, or death in the employee’s immediate family); R.”
Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 39 v. City of East Cleveland, 581 N.E.2d 1131 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 13× “2d 735 , this court held R.C. 124.38 is a law of general nature which prevails over conflicting municipal ordinances.”
Doughton v. Vill. of Mariemont, 476 N.E.2d 720 (Ohio Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 12× “Appellant filed suit seeking pay for accumulated sick leave under R.C. 124.38 and 124.39, which appellee refused.”
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Ohio Rev. Code § 124.38(C): 1 case
Traub v. Warren Cnty. Bd. of Commissioners, 683 N.E.2d 411 (Ohio Ct. App. 1996). “Because the proper uses of sick leave were set forth in R.C. 124.38, the hearing officer decided that appellant could’ not use ignorance of the law as an excuse, but instead had to be “held accountable to at least be aware of the existence of the laws that pertain to him.”
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