Ohioans Push for Mandatory Sick Leave

By By rachel Levitt
Published on August 6, 2008

Ohio may be the first state in the nation to require businesses with 25 or more employees to give seven days of paid sick leave, the Dayton Daily News reports. The ballot measure’s supporters, such as labor unions, say the change is necessary to address the dearth of paid sick leave in the state (2.2 million Ohioans have none, according to a spokesman for the sick leave issue). The proposal’s opponents, like the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, maintain that it would adversely affect businesses already struggling with insurance and health care costs. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (pdf), just half of all Americans have paid sick leave, and only 30 percent of the population gets sick leave to care for a sick child.

(Thanks, Stateline.org.)

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