IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
COUNTY OF SUMMIT

THOMAS E. LILLEY, et al. CASE NO. CV 91 08 2861
Plaintiffs JUDGE MURPHY
 
vs
 
SUMMIT COUNTY BOARD OF MENTAL JUDGMENT
RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL
DISABILITIES
 
and
ADMINISTRATOR, OHIO BUREAU OF
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES, et al.
Defendants
 

This cause came on before this Court upon the statutory appeal of all of the Appell'ants under Ohio RevisedCode 4141.28(0).
 
Upon the transcript and the evidence presented by the parties, the Court finds that all of the Appellants are members of the Weaver Education Association or the Weaver Workshop and Support Association. The Appellee, Summit County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, was their employer up to and including the dispute herein. When negotiations for a new contract came to an unsuccessful conclusion, the contract expired August 31, 1990.
 
After the required notice the Appellants/employees notified the employer/Appellee that they were to engage in a partial work stoppage (half day) commencing September 17, 1990. This economic sanction on the employer was authorized at that time by the State Employment Relations Board. The employer/Appellee exceeded this request initially and contacted another union, the Teamsters Union, as drivers of the buses to bring the students to the school and return them after class to see if their hours could be varied to accommodate this partial work stoppage. The union for the bus drivers would not or could not, and the employer/Appellee then informed the Appellants that they would agree to extend the contract on the same terms and conditions but that the daily
hours of employment had to remain the same and they could not permit half day work stoppages.
 
Commencing September 17, 1990 and each day thereafter as long as this dispute continued the Appellants appeared at their places of work at 12:00 noon indicating they were ready, willing, and able to perform their assigned duties. The employer then indicated to each of these claimants that they would not be permitted to work or furnish services for the remainder of that assigned shift. Each of the claimants then filed with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services for unemployment compensation and were refused that compensation in that "the claimants were unemployed as a result of a labor dispute other than a lockout."

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The most recent opinion of the Ohio Supreme Court in Bays v. Shenango Company (1990), 53 Ohio St. 3d 132, appears to be controlling. Definitions of "strike", "Iockout," and "labor dispute" have been decided in separate cases. See, for example, Leach v. Republic Steel Corporation 176 Ohio St. 221 and Baker v. Powhatan Mining Company 146 Ohio St. 600.
 
When there is a cessation of work by the employees but not a complete closing of the facilities and the employer offers to continue the existing contract with the same terms and conditions, the "Bays court" indicates a status quo test is to be utilized. In other words, which side, union or management, first refused to continue operations under the "status quo" after the contract had technically expired. If the employer refused to continue the contract under the same terms and conditions and refused to allow the employees to work, it would clearly be a lockout.
 
In the case at hand the Defendant/Appellee offered to maintain the status quo and the Appellants refused by their conduct to except those same terms and conditions while the negotiations proceeded and, therefore, were not locked out of their employment. The scope of the review in this case is whether the Court finds then that that decision of the Defendant/Appellant was unlawful, unreasonable, or against the manifest weight of the evidence, and I find that it is not; and, accordingly, I am under the duty to affirm that decision.
 
It is ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that the issues herein are here found to be in favor of the Defendant/ Appellees and the complaint of the Plaintiff is hereby dismissed. Final judgment is entered in accordance with the ruling of the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services. It is so ordered.
 
JUDGE JAMES E. MURPHY
 
cc:
Attorney Ronald Macala
Administrator, Ohio Bureau of Employment Services
Board of Review, Ohio Bureau of Employment Services
Summit County Board of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities
Attorney Vincent J. Tersigni
 
pam 3/5/92
OW: 2861-JM1