After 4 months of inaction, the Ohio Legislature has forced the hands of the Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition.

At the end of this week thousands across Ohio will begin signing petitions to place Paid Sick Days on the November ballot. Legislators continue to take paid sick days themselves, and they continue to block our efforts on behalf of millions of hard working friends, family and neighbors who simply seek to EARN their own time off in case they need handle an illness.

With 90 days to go, hundreds of Ohioans are now gathering tens of thousands of signatures.

Brian Dunn, OHF Campaign Manager and Dale Butland, OHF Spokesman address the media and coalition leaders at the offices of ProgressOhio.org in Columbus on Thursday.

Media Reports covering the kickoff:

Youngstown, OH
WFMJ 21

Cincinnati, OH
WLWT 5

Columbus, OH
ProgressOhio

Columbus, OH
WSYX 6

Columbus, OH
Triangle Business Journal

Columbus, OH
Dayton Business News

Canton, OH
Canton Repository

Dayton, OH
Dayton Daily News

Dayton, OH
another from DDN

Columbus, OH
10TV

Blogs:

blog

Online Lunch Pail

Despite over a quarter-million signatures of Ohio voters already collected, the Ohio General Assembly refuses to act on Paid Sick Days. This week the battle will be joined by thousands more hard working Ohioans.

Join us Thursday - or download a petition now.

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...

This Germ Central article leads with a Carrabba's restaurant incident in Michigan...

"Key in prevention...is rethinking sick-leave policies."

"Dave Babcock, an attorney with Marler Clark, a Seattle-based law firm that represented plaintiffs in the 1993 E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box, pointed to a 1996 norovirus outbreak at the Reno Hilton in Nevada. In that case, a jury awarded six victims punitive damages of $25 million, in part because the casino did not have a sick-leave policy."

noroblog.com leads with Chipotle in Kent.

marlerclark.com a law firm discusses how an ill food service worker contaminated lettuce for sub sandwiches served by Blimpies at a school luncheon.

6 People with Hepatitis A Ate at Chipotle in La Mesa, California

In most hepatitis A cases, food served to the sickened patrons was contaminated with the feces of a food handler who had hepatitis A. In the case of a restaurant like Chipotle, the most likely scenario was that a sickened food handler contaminated food while cooking or serving the food.

BarfBlog covers Kent State Chipotle.

A day after medical tests confirmed that a “norovirus” was responsible for the illnesses of more than 400 people who ate at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio, the Ohioans for Healthy Families coalition has posted a video on its website in which average people in that city talk about the need for paid sick days.

A link to the video is at www.sickdaysohio.org. For the latest news on the cause of the Kent outbreak, see http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/3682852.

After more than 270,000 voters signed petitions supporting it, the Ohio Healthy Families Act (a bill allowing workers to earn paid sick days) has been pending in the Ohio General Assembly since early January. Despite a looming May 8 deadline, the House has held just one hearing, Republican leaders who control the Assembly say they oppose the bill, and no vote has been scheduled.

Said Coalition spokesman Dale Butland:

“ The Chipotle situation in Kent proves what we’ve been saying all along: paid sick days are important not just to workers and their families, but also to public health. It is our understanding that Chipotle workers who prepare and handle food have no paid sick days. As a result, an employee who could not afford to miss a day’s pay apparently came to work ill. Now over 450 customers have paid the price, with more “secondary cases” of illness being reported every day.

Opponents say paid sick days would be too costly. But as we’re seeing in Kent, not having them is even more expensive. How much did it cost that restaurant to close for a day while it disinfected the premises? What is it costing their customers and the public at large? And make no mistake: Chipotle is just the tip of the iceberg. Well over 300,000 other restaurant employees in Ohio don’t have any paid sick days either. As a result, eating out means playing Russian roulette with our families’ health.”

Ohio Public Radio covered the hearing.

Dozens of Paid Sick Days supporters packed the room in the Ohio Capitol for the 1:00pm meeting - despite only one day's notice. A second hearing, with professional notice given, will feature local and national experts making the case for Paid Sick Days.

If the Ohio General Assembly doesn't act on the bill in the time remaining (see the new Countdown Clock on the right?) citizens will again canvass Ohio's 88 counties and gather another quarter-million signatures to place Paid Sick Days on the November ballot for voter approval.

Ohioans for Healthy Families calls it “hypocrisy” ---with a “capitol” H.

On April 8, spokespersons for the 200-organization statewide coalition fighting to bring paid sick days to Ohio will lift the veil on the General Assembly’s own practices regarding paid sick days.

OHF communications director Dale Butland previewed the news conference this way:

“ 42% of Ohio’s private sector workforce ---some 2.2 million people ---don’t have a single paid sick day they can use to take care of themselves or their families when illness strikes. And despite the fact that 270,000 voters from all 88 Ohio counties signed petitions asking the General Assembly to enact it, the Ohio Healthy Families Act continues to collect dust nearly three months after going to the legislature.

“But thanks to a public records request, the legislative leadership’s hypocrisy is clear. The politicians themselves enjoy paid sick days ---and at taxpayer expense. In fact, they take paid days off for all kinds of reasons. It’s time Ohioans knew the truth about their elected representatives.”

Press coverage of our event:

Columbus Dispatch April 9th


Dayton Daily News April 8th


Toledo Blade April 8th


ONN April 8th

Jim ends his letter by saying "I, for one, would like to see our state legislators - who never tire of telling us how much they believe in "family values" - pass laws that actually value families. Paid sick days would be a good first step."

You can use any of the information you find on this website, or relay a personal experience about the need for Paid Sick Days. Perhaps you have faced the choice of going to work sick, were not able to pick up a sick child from school, or put your job in jeopardy to assist an ill parent.

It's time that the backbone of Ohio's economy is able to earn paid sick days to care for themselves and their families!

Brought to you by the National Partnership for Women and Families

Volunteers are preparing now to go out in early May for a decisive round of signature gathering to place the Ohio Healthy Families Act on the November ballot for voter approval. Please join the effort!

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.

That's why we need the Healthy Families Act.

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.

Fortunately, if the Ohio General Assembly continues to deny paid sick days to the backbone of the state’s economy, voters will have the opportunity to take matters into their own hands through the initiated statute process. The Ohioans for Healthy Families coalition of over 200 organizations and community leaders is poised to gather an additional 121,000 signatures to place the issue on the November 4, 2008 ballot. Judging by the overwhelming public support for paid sick days numerous polls and the more than 275,000 signatures collected on the Ohio Healthy Families Act petition in all 88 Ohio counties last fall, it is clear that Ohio voters are ready to allow average Ohio workers to earn the same ability to take care of their families that CEO’s and politicians enjoy.

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!