Ohio Drops Sick Leave Act, But What Now?

As you probably already know, on September 4 the Ohio Healthy Families Act was removed from the November statewide ballot.

If the issue would have been passed, employers would have to provide seven paid sick days a year, in one hour increments, and a doctor's excuse would not be required if the employee misses less than three consecutive days.

But now the fight may be national.

Democratic Presidential Nominee's wife Michelle Obama said part of the Obama-Biden plan would require employers to provide at least seven sick days and would expand family leave, according to PolitcsWest.com, a Denver Post Web site. Sen. Barack Obama backed his wife's claim during his acceptance speech at last month's Democratic National Convention when he mentioned "paid sick leave."

As for the Democrat majority Congress, the bill titled the Healthy Families Act was introduced in March 2007 by Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy, according to the Library of Congress Web site.

Like the now discredited Ohio Healthy Families Act, this legislation calls for seven days of sick leave pay and employment benefits annually for employees. The national legislation also calls for sick leave to be calculated on an hourly basis, just like the former OHFA, which would allow employees to leave an hour early 56 times, if he or she would choose to do so.

The general consensus from newspapers and political blogs is that Gov. Ted Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown convinced the Service Employee International Union, a group sponsoring the OHFA, to remove the act from the ballot because Strickland and Brown have agreed to push for the early mentioned federal legislation. Brown is listed as co-sponsor on the bill along with Kennedy.

Apparently, Strickland did not want issue on the ballot, urging for compromise among Ohio's employers, the Act's advocates and the state legislatures last July.
What message is Strickland trying to portray to Ohioans? As a Democrat, he supports the legislation because it was proposed and is supported by Democrats. But with unemployment as high as it has been in 16 years, Strickland seems to be against putting himself and Ohio in the forefront of such a movement.
It will be interesting to see if the governor will address this issue in the coming months, and if the presidential nominees will discuss Paid Sick Days in the coming two months, specifically when they roll through Ohio.

If you're interested in more information, here's a link, to a Cleveland attorney's blog, "The Ohio Employer's Law Blog."