Legal-Ease: Snow and work

Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney with Schroeder Law LLC in Ottawa. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at lee@leeschroeder.com or at (419) 523-5523. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.

While students can look forward to unexpected days off of school due to Ohio’s winter weather, each business deals with poor weather in a different manner, so employees may not be sure what to expect. County sheriffs are legally empowered to close highways, streets and roads that are in each sheriff’s county. Many sheriffs will use Ohio’s well-known “Snow Emergency Classifications.”

Students can excitedly experience unexpected days off school due to weather. Most businesses do not follow the same protocol, and seldom does any business handle weather issues the same as any other business does. As a result, the intersection of snowy roads and employment becomes a big subject of conversation in northwest Ohio every winter.

Ohioans sometimes erroneously think that only the state government can close state highways or that only a municipality can preclude travelling on its streets. Generally, rules of the road, such as the roadway’s speed limit, are set by the governing body that manages the particular roadway.

Read more about snow emergencies in Ohio and how they may affect your workday in Lee’s article in the Lima News here: Legal-Ease: Snow and work

Source: LimaOhio.com, “Legal-Ease: Snow and work,” by Lee R. Schroeder, January 16, 2016

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