On Tuesday, December 11th, Ohioans for Healthy Families submitted over 268,000 signatures for the Paid Sick Days petition. Here is a summary of our news coverage:
Dayton Daily News: Ohioans for Healthy Families submits sick leave petitions
The campaign to require that Ohio workers be able to earn seven paid sick days per year cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday.
Ohioans for Healthy Families, the group pushing the issue, turned in petitions with about 268,000 signatures from registered voters to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner who will send them to county boards of election to be validated.The petitions contain more than double the 120,683 signatures required to ask the legislature to enact the sick leave legislation.
If enough signatures are ruled valid, the legislature will have four months to act on the proposal. If the legislature doesn't act by the deadline, backers of the plan can put the issue on the November 2008 ballot by meeting the same signature requirements.
A petition bearing more than 250,000 signatures was presented to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office Tuesday, urging state legislators to enact a bill that would allow Ohio workers to earn up to seven paid sick days per year.
Supporters say the issue is gaining a lot of support across the state, but the business world is not so enthusiastic.
“The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a paid sick days policy, and 42 percent of Ohio’s private sector workforce have no paid sick days where they work,” said Dale Butland, spokesman for Ohioans for Healthy Families.
He said the proposed legislation would require employers with more than 25 workers to provide employees with the opportunity to earn seven days of sick leave annually.
Toledo Blade: Backers of paid sick time law filing petitions today
Backers of a law mandating that larger businesses allow workers to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave a year will file petitions today to place the proposal in lawmakers' laps at the start of 2008.
Supporters hope that the Republican-controlled General Assembly will pass the Healthy Families Act rather than risk having it on the November ballot as a potential Democratic wedge issue at a time when Ohio could again be instrumental in choosing the next president.
The state's business community hopes lawmakers will refuse to pass on what they consider to be government intrusion into individual business decisions.
"We're the only one of the 30 most competitive economies that doesn't have this," said Dale Butland, spokesman for the coalition of labor, social service, trial lawyer, and political organizations.
"If it doesn't hurt everybody else's competitiveness, why would it hurt ours?" he asked.
Akron Beacon Journal: Backers of sick pay issue to submit signatures
A coalition that wants to require bigger employers in the state to guarantee workers seven paid sick days a year will come a step closer to its goal Tuesday, when it plans to turn in 250,000 signatures.
Ohioans for Healthy Families needs Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to certify 120,683 of the signatures in order to place the proposal before state lawmakers early next year.
Columbus Daily Reporter: Signatures move Ohio employees one step closer to mandatory paid sick days
More than 270,000 signatures collected by the Ohioans for Healthy Families
coalition are expected to be given to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner
today. The petition, part of a bill that would require a minimum of seven
paid sick days for all Ohio workers, is the result of thousands of volunteer
hours, hitting the pavement and chatting up registered voters in 88
counties.The bill, the Ohio Healthy Families act will not be sponsored by a state
representative but instead will be put into the legislation pipeline through
Ohio's "initiated statute" process which enables citizens to put legislation
before Ohio lawmakers. The Ohio General Assembly is expected to see the bill
early next year.
Posted by SickDaysOhio.org on December 14, 2007
Comments
Posted by Mary Truka at December 19, 2007 6:41 PM
Our worldwide company, Timken, does not provide sick days and in fact encourages you to come to work if you are sick!!!! You are reprimanded if you miss more than 4 days a year for sickness (without pay of course)and actually can be fired! We need this and it is a disgrace that a company especially as large as this in the USA doesn't provide this to their employees. I am hoping that this passes and companies like Timken are forced to not only allow the days but have to pay wages for them also.
Posted by l dyer at February 23, 2008 10:05 AM
The company I work for has over 100 employees and this is what they will do if you are sick. We have 4 personal days a year with pay, but that needs to be approved first and requested in advance. At this time all hourly paid employees who miss work for any reason are given points, Example 12 point or over in a year you will more then likely loose your job. A person will get 2 points if you call off work, 1 point clocking in late and 3 points if you miss work and didn’t call in with no exception. This all happens while non-hourly paid employees take off work for what ever reason and believe me it’s a lot. If company say that it will cost them, then I say give them another tax or whatever break. they can use that money to buy a bigger house, Boat, car, or a better vacation spot. The U.S.A. is in the mess that it’s in for various reasons and if you think real hard this is one reason.
I will continue to believe in life, liberty and looking for happiness even when you fill that all is being taken away.