On April 29th at the Ohio Capitol, State Representative Jennifer Brady, above, (16th District) accepted over a dozen of Chipotle burritos and hundreds of "burrito-grams" from Ohio moms to build support for Paid Sick Days in the Ohio General Assembly. MomsRising.org led over two hundred organizations and community leaders that comprise the Ohio Healthy Families Coalition in raising awareness that Paid Sick Days for food service employees is a major public health issue. Earlier in April, over 400 diners fell ill after a norovirus outbreak at a Kent Chipolte Mexican Grill. Over 300,000 food and accomodation service workers in Ohio do not have paid sick time forcing them to make a dangerous choice, staying home to take care of their health or going to work sick and putting public health in jeopardy.
A front page story by Marc Kovac of the Ravenna Record-Courier quoted Rep. Brady on Tuesday, "I am here today not only as a state legislator but also as a concerned mom, a concerned citizen and a concerned consumer," said Rep. Jennifer Brady, a Democrat from Westlake, who accepted a burrito and spoke during the press conference. "We are seeing more and more that the paid sick days are important to Ohio's public health and to its economy. Many of us in the Legislature are listening and do support the Ohio Health Families Act."
MomsRising, a national non-profit, delivered the burritos to Senate President Bill Harris, House Speaker Jon Husted, and to the members of the House Commerce and Labor Committee. No word yet on how they enjoyed their lunch...
Front PagePosted by SickDaysOhio.org on May 1, 2008
Take care of your sick child... or get paid?
Help your ailing mother... or keep your job?
Stay home because you have the flu... or go to work sick?
These are the kinds of tough choices almost half of hard-working Ohioans are faced with because their employers don't allow them to earn paid sick days.
The Ohio Healthy Families Act is a proposed new state law that would make our state one of the most family-friendly in the nation. The Act would require businesses with 25 or more workers to allow full-time employees to earn 7 paid sick days per year. Part-time workers could earn a smaller, pro-rated number of paid sick days depending on the number of hours they work.
The Healthy Families Act would ensure middle-class workers—the backbone of Ohio's economy—have the opportunity to earn paid sick days. Full-time workers would earn 7 days a year and part-time workers would earn a pro-rated amount, based on the number of hours worked.
Although we have been diligent in pressuring the Ohio General Assembly to pass the Ohio Healthy Famlies Act, it increasingly seems clear that we will need to gather signatures to take the bill before the voters in this November's General Election.
Can you gather 100 signatures to help make a difference for Ohio?
We will continue to pressure the Legislature through May 7th. After that, we have just 90 days to gather over 120,000 valid signatures - so we'll need the help of everyone who supports paid Sick Days!
Click here to pledge to be a "super volunteer" and collect 100 signatures!
Ready to help spread the word about paid sick days for Ohio families?
If you've got a website or a blog, just copy and paste one line of HTML, and you'll have all the latest headlines from SickDaysOhio.org at your fingertips. Here is what it looks like:
Columbus, Ohio OCT 2---- Policy Matters Ohio released the results of a study detailing the range of opportunities afforded working Ohioans to earn paid sick days.
"A Healthy Standard: Paid Sick Days in Ohio," describes the current state of paid sick days in Ohio in which nearly half of all workers have no opportunity to earn paid sick days. Among the findings were that a significant number of jobs involving personal contact, such as the food services and retail sectors, lack paid sick days. Also, a significant number of labor intensive jobs in manufacturing and construction lack paid sick days.
The report noted that, rather than a burden, earned paid sick days as provided for by the Ohio Healthy Families Act would have an economic benefit to employers of approximately $1.25 per employee per week. In light of the 2.2 million Ohio workers who can not earn paid sick days, Ohio's economy would stand to gain a substantial competitive advantage each work week under the Healthy Families Act.
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