4117.13 Board or party may petition court of common pleas.

4117.13 Board or party may petition court of common pleas.

(A) The state employment relations board or the complaining party may petition the court of common pleas for any county wherein an unfair labor practice occurs, or wherein any person charged with the commission of any unfair labor practice resides or transacts business, for the enforcement of the order and for appropriate temporary relief or restraining order. The board shall certify and file in the court a transcript of the entire record in the proceeding, including the pleadings and evidence upon which the order was entered and the findings and order of the board. When the board petitions the court, the complaining party may intervene in the case as a matter of right. Upon the filing, the court shall cause notice thereof to be served upon the person charged with committing the unfair labor practice and thereupon has jurisdiction of the proceeding and the question determined therein. The court may grant the temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper, and make and enter upon the pleadings, evidence, and proceedings set forth in the transcript a decree enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part the order of the board.

(B) The findings of the board as to the facts, if supported by substantial evidence, on the record as a whole, are conclusive. If either party applies to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence and shows to the satisfaction of the court that the additional evidence is material and that there exist reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce the evidence in the hearing before the board, its member or agent, the court may order the board, its member, or agent to take the additional evidence, and make it a part of the transcript. The board may modify its findings as to the facts, or make new findings, by reason of additional evidence so taken and filed, and it shall file the modified or new findings, which, if supported by the evidence, are conclusive and shall file its recommendations, if any, for the modifying or setting aside of its original order.

(C) The jurisdiction of the court is exclusive and its judgment and decree final, except that the same is subject to review on questions of law as in civil cases.

(D) Any person aggrieved by any final order of the board granting or denying, in whole or in part, the relief sought may appeal to the court of common pleas of any county where the unfair labor practice in question was alleged to have been engaged in, or where the person resides or transacts business, by filing in the court a notice of appeal setting forth the order appealed from and the grounds of appeal. The court shall cause a copy of the notice to be served forthwith upon the board. Within ten days after the court receives a notice of appeal, the board shall file in the court a transcript of the entire record in the proceeding, certified by the board, including the pleading and evidence upon which the order appealed from was entered.

The court has exclusive jurisdiction to grant the temporary relief or restraining order it considers proper, and to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part the order of the board. The findings of the board as to the facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, are conclusive.

(E) The commencement of proceedings under division (A) or (D) of this section does not, unless specifically ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the board’s order.

(F) Courts of common pleas shall hear appeals under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code expeditiously presented and where good cause is shown give precedence to them over all other civil matters except earlier matters of the same character.

Effective Date: 04-01-1984