Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act

[cbg]

I read the law as saying that you have to treat someone who is pregnant the same way you would treat a similarly situated employee who has a broken leg or pneumonia. I don't read it as saying that a pregnant employee has any specific rights beyond FMLA, except the right to be treated the same as an employee with a non-maternity medical condition, and the right to "reasonable" maternity leave.

[TSmith2010]

I have heard a lot recently about the Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act and how it protects pregnancy-related conditions. The quote is copied directly from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission website (http://crc.ohio.gov/disc_employment.htm)

Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act protects the employment status of pregnant women in the workplace. The law applies to private employers with four or more employees, all labor organizations, all employment agencies, and all state and local government agencies. Firing a woman solely for being pregnant is illegal. And once a woman returns to work after maternity leave, the employer must reinstate her the same way anyone else would be reinstated when returning from disability leave. There is no specific duration of time for maternity, however, Ohio Rules require that they leave time be “sufficient.”

Can anyone point me in a direction to find out more about it? Specifically I'm interested in what rights an employee has if she is not covered under FMLA due to not meeting the one-year requirement, and leave protection if FMLA time is exhausted while on maternity leave.

Thank you