The section’s clients include Ohio’s departments of Administrative Services, Agriculture, Commerce, Development, Public Safety, and numerous boards and commissions. The section’s approximatley 30 attorneys counsel their clients regarding compliance with Ohio’s Sunshine Laws, represent their clients in transactional matters, and litigate cases for their clients before administrative agencies and state and federal courts.
Within the section are two units that focus on specific areas:
- The Labor Relations Unit represents the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Wage & Hour Administration (ODOC) and the State Employment Relations Board (SERB). As such, it works on employees’ behalf to recoup money they earned but did not get paid, either as a result of employers ignoring minimum wage or prevailing wage laws.
- The Transportation Unit serves as legal counsel to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC), aiding in the state’s mission to build and maintain a safe and efficient system of transportation.
The section also coordinates the retrieval of all common pleas court decisions (since January 1, 2012) in administrative appeals involving state agencies represented by the office and
makes those decisions available to the public.