OH: What Is a “Place of Employment”? Ohio Supreme Court to Hear Major Registry Due Process Case on June 9
On June 9, 2026, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case asks a simple but important question: What exactly is a “place of employment”?
The case involves a registrant who worked for a cleaning company and was assigned to various job sites as part of his employment. Although he reported his employer, prosecutors argued that a temporary work location constituted a separate “place of employment” that he was required to register. When he failed to do so, he was charged with a felony. The registrant argues that Ohio’s law is unconstitutional because it never clearly defines what a “place of employment” is, leaving people to guess whether the term refers to an employer’s headquarters, a temporary job site, a customer’s property, or somewhere else entirely.
The issues before the Ohio Supreme Court are particularly relevant in Florida, where lawmakers recently expanded employment-reporting requirements under the state’s registry law. While employment reporting may sound straightforward on paper, the reality is far different for many registrants. Because employment opportunities are often limited, many work in industries that involve traveling from location to location throughout the day. They mow lawns, work on construction sites, clean commercial properties, perform maintenance work, flag traffic for road crews, and take other labor-intensive jobs that require them to move between multiple locations.
That raises obvious questions. If a landscaper services ten properties in a single day, is each property a reportable employment location? If a construction worker spends a week at one job site and then moves to another, must the registration be updated every time? If a janitorial employee cleans several businesses each week, are all of those locations considered places of employment? If the answer is yes, compliance quickly becomes an overwhelming burden for people who are simply trying to maintain lawful employment and support themselves.
FAC will be closely following this case.
A copy of the Appellant’s Brief is below:
OH – Employment
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This may be a dumb question. But what employment reporting laws change. I have been reporting my employment for years. The only new thing I added was “Job type”. What am i missing here?
Employment telephone number, I think.
I’ve always asked this question. I do maintenance work for several different hotels and I registered all the properties with the cop shop. Do I need to register all the hotels or just the main office who actually employed me?
And if required to report each and every location you have to work at, you may just find yourself out of a job if someone finds out an offender is working at a certain location and complains.
I was doing construction for a while (several decades ago) and when they sent me to a second location, someone looked me up and didn’t want me there. Since I was not able to work in several locations due to a boss at another location didn’t want me there because of the registry, the main boss said if you are not allowed at certain job sites, you are no use to me and let me go. (Similar situation as this case, other than I didn’t sue, I just moved on to something else until I eventually became disabled)
Here’s what some politicians want. They want and /or have the mentality that basically the registry should a manual tracking device. I can’t stand politicians.
back in 2016, a Registrant who was a volunteer firefighter in Athens, AL was arrested for taking a service call within 2000 ft. of a school. Thankfully the charges were dismissed. But it has a chilling effect of the ability of Registered Persons to take jobs that require some work at a different location.
If Ohio’s conviction holds up, then what? Do delivery drivers register places they regularly deliver a “place of employment”? What if I go to church and they have a luncheon, and they are a bit shortshaffed so I pitch in for a few?
When the USPS guy shows up at my house, he doesn’t walk in, kick off his shoes, fix a sandwich, or take a visit to the “oval office” if you catch my drift. No. But he might be on my property for a few minutes while he removes a heavy package from his vehicle or shoot the breeze for a few.
You don’t want us to work? Fine. But you better stop trying to cut our government benefits.
Derek
This blew my mind, I know several people who work for the government and are on the registry. One I know personally and met another one will in line registering. So, some factions of the government doesn’t care you are on the registry, and others want us in prison for life? What a quagmire.
And even if you get a job, when a new boss comes in, they may not be as accommodating as the former boss. And I also experienced not getting raises and promotions in most of my jobs while on the registry, and if I did get a raise it might have been like 5 cents an hour raise.
All registrants should get a job as a delivery person and force these idiots to immediately register every address within 30 miles. Just in case….