What legal steps should I take to ensure that my Ohio-based business is compliant with state and federal employment laws?

As a lawyer, I would advise you to take the following legal steps to ensure that your Ohio-based business is compliant with state and federal employment laws:

1. Conduct an internal audit: The first step in ensuring compliance with state and federal employment laws is to conduct an internal audit of your business's policies and procedures. This audit should carefully review all of your employment policies, including your hiring practices, employee handbooks, and benefit plans, to ensure that they are consistent with state and federal law. The audit should also review your wage and hour practices to ensure that you are paying your employees in compliance with state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws.
2. Train your management team: Your management team is responsible for implementing your employment policies and procedures, and as such, they should be thoroughly trained on all aspects of state and federal employment laws. This includes discrimination laws, employee leave laws, and wage and hour laws. Your line managers should be trained on how to recognize and report potential legal violations and should know how to properly conduct investigations.
3. Ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws: Ohio has a number of anti-discrimination laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or genetic information, among other protected classes. You should ensure that your policies and procedures prohibit such discrimination and that your hiring, promotion, and termination decisions are based solely on job-related qualifications.
4. Comply with wage and hour laws: Ohio follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and has its own minimum wage and overtime laws. You should ensure that you are properly classifying your employees (as exempt or non-exempt) and that you are paying your non-exempt employees in compliance with state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws.
5. Ensure compliance with employee leave laws: Ohio has a number of employee leave laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). You should ensure that your policies and procedures comply with these laws and that you are properly providing leave to eligible employees.
6. Stay up to date with state and federal employment laws: Employment laws are constantly changing, and it is important to stay up to date with new laws that may affect your business. You should regularly review new laws and regulations to ensure that your business remains in compliance.

Limitations and further action:

It is important to note that the steps outlined above are general guidelines for ensuring compliance with state and federal employment laws and may not be applicable to every business. For example, certain industries (such as healthcare or transportation) may have specific regulations that require additional compliance measures.

Further, the advice provided is not intended as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney. If you have specific questions or concerns about your business's compliance with state and federal employment laws, it is recommended that you consult with an attorney who is familiar with Ohio employment law.