A federal judge yesterday sided with a group of convenience store owners and granted a temporary restraining order against a new Toledo law that licenses the businesses.

Dozens of training courses are available through Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation’s Division of Safety & Hygiene. These courses are offered at the BWC’s training center in Pickerington at the Ohio Center for Occupational Safety and Health (OCOSH) and at branch sites and BWC service offices across the state, including Toledo, Cincinnati, Canton, Cambridge, Portsmouth, Youngstown and Cleveland. Employers may enroll any number of employees at no additional cost. To enroll or learn more about the courses available July to September 2008, visit the BWC Learning Center at bwclearningcenter.com.

On June 12, 2008, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed House Bill 150, which encourages retail establishments to allow customers with eligible medical conditions to use the retail establishment’s restrooms that are not usually available to the public. A “retail establishment” does not include a filling station or service station, with a structure of eight hundred square feet or less, that has an employee toilet facility located within that structure. An eligible medical condition is defined as any medical condition that requires immediate access to a toilet facility. The act does not require a retail establishment to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility. Furthermore, it limits the liability of an establishment that allows such access. As of this writing, the unofficial effective date for enforcement is September 9, 2008.

For more information, the Act is available at www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_150.