***PAID SICK LEAVE OFF NOVEMBER BALLOT***
On September 4, 2008, proponents of the Ohio Healthy Families Act announced that they will be repealing the measure (Issue 4) from Ohio's November ballot. Ohio voters would have decided whether or not Ohio employers should be mandated to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave for most employees. MORE INFO
History
In 2007, a group called the Ohioans for Health Families collected enough valid signatures from Ohio voters to require the Ohio General Assembly to consider a new measure called the Ohio Healthy Families Act. The proposed mandate would require Ohio employers with 25 or more employees to provide at least 7 paid sick days to full-time employees, and a pro-rated amount for part-time employees that work less than 30-hours per week.
The legislature declined to vote on the proposed measure before a deadline in May. As a result, the Ohioans for Health Families began a new campaign to collect signatures from registered Ohio voters to petition to put the measure on the November 4th ballot. On August 5th, the group announced it had collected over 240,000 of the 120,683 necessary valid signatures to get the measure on the ballot and on August 19th the language that woud appear on the ballot was approved.
On September 4, 2008, under stong pressure from Ohio's Governor Strickland and a score of business and employer groups and advocates, the issue was voluntarily removed by the groups supporting the act.
Supporters of the issue cited a change in strategy as the main reason for pulling the issue from the ballot, claiming that a more focused national effort to make mandated sick days a federal issue would be a better use of campaign resources and energy.
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Part of a Growing Trend
If Issue 4 had appeared on the November ballot, Ohio could have been the first state to enact such a law for private sector employers. In May of 2008, the state senate in Connecticut (S.B. 217) passed a bill that would require employers with 50 or more employees to provide paid sick leave, but the bill did not make it through the state House before its summer session closed. A similar bill (Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008) was also passed by the California state senate in March of 2008 but has yet to be signed into law.
Similar laws are already in place in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Other states including Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington are considering or have already passed other legislation regarding paid family or sick leave. For a summary of other laws being considered or already in place click here.
In March of 2007, a similar version of a paid-sick leave mandate was reintroduced at the federal level called the Healthy Families Act.
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Resources for Employers
COSE (www.cose.org)
COSE Issue Summary
Small Business Votes
Vote No on Issue 4 Poster
Frantz Ward LLP (www.frantzward.com)
Ohio Healthy Families Act - August 2008 Client Update
MAGNET (www.magnetwork.org)
Effect & Impact of the HFA
Healthy Familes Act: What Can We Do?
National Federation of Independent Businesses (www.nfib.com)
Economic Impact Study Summary
Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits (www.saveourjobsandbenefits.com)
OHFA Fact Book
Ohio Business Votes (www.ohiobusinessvotes.org)
Stop the Mandates
Ohio Chamber of Commerce (www.ohiochamber.com)
FAQs about Proposed Sick Leave Act
How to Educate Employees
Press Release
Ohio Manufacturers Association (www.ohiomfg.com)
Ohio Manufacturers Association Resource Center
Ohio SHRM (www.ohioshrm.org)
Ohio SHRM Healthy Families Act Toolkit
Play Sick Ohio (www.playsickohio.com)
State Government Contacts
Ohio House of Respresentatives
Ohio Senate
Ohio Governor's Office
More Information
Issue 4 language for November ballot
Full text of proposed Ohio Healthy Families Act
Sick Days Ohio
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Articles
Sick day advocates drop fight (Cleveland.com; 09/04/08)
25 questions to ask yourself when your employee calls in sick on 12/4/08! (Zrlaw.com; 08/26/08)
Employers consider altering benefits before voters decide sick days (Cleveland.com; 08/24/08)
Governor Strickland to oppose paid sick leave (Crain's Cleveland Business; 08/21/08)
Ballot language OK'd for sick leave (Columbus Business First; 08/20/08)
Sick day supporters say measure headed for ballot (Cleveland.com; 08/05/08)
Strickland outlines compromise on sick days (Columbus Dispatch; 07/24/08)
Paid family and sick leave campaigns growing at the federal, state level (CCH; 07/21/08)
Coalition to fight proposed sick leave law (Dayton Business Journal; 07/18/08)
Signing election petitions goes high-tech (Columbus Dispatch; 5/26/08)
Proponents of paid sick leave begin march to ballot (Columbus Business First; 5/8/08)
Deadline looms for Ohio lawmakers to act on sick-days bill (Forbes.com; 5/8/08)
Little interest in mandatory sick day legislation (Ohio.com; 2/5/08)
Step taken on sick days (Columbus Dispatch; 1/5/08)
Backers of sick pay issue to submit signatures (Ohio.com; 12/10/07)
Taking U.S. pulse on paid sick leave (USA Today; 11/11/07)
Coalition pushing sick leave legislation (Dayton Daily News; 10/23/07)
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