The state personnel board of review may affirm, disaffirm, or modify the decisions of the appointing authorities or the director, as the case may be, and its decision is final. The decisions of the state personnel board of review shall be consistent with the applicable classification specifications.
The state personnel board of review shall not be deprived of jurisdiction to hear any appeal due to the failure of an appointing authority to file its decision with the board. Any final decision of an appointing authority or of the director not filed in the manner provided in this chapter shall be disaffirmed.
The state personnel board of review may place an exempt employee, as defined in section 124.152 of the Revised Code, into a bargaining unit classification, if the state personnel board of review determines that the bargaining unit classification is the proper classification for that employee. Notwithstanding Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code or instruments and contracts negotiated under it, such placements are at the discretion of the state personnel board of review.
The mere failure of an employee's appointing authority to file a statement with the department of administrative services indicating that the employee is in the unclassified civil service, or the mere late filing of such a statement, does not prevent the state personnel board of review from determining that the employee is in the unclassified civil service. In determining whether an employee is in the unclassified civil service, the state personnel board of review shall consider the inherent nature of the duties of the employee's classification during the two-year period immediately preceding the appointing authority's appealable action relating to the employee.
In any hearing before the state personnel board of review, including any hearing at which a record is taken that may be the basis of an appeal to a court, an employee may be represented by a person permitted to practice before the state personnel board of review who is not an attorney at law as long as the person does not receive any compensation from the employee for the representation.
R.C. § 124.03