The Ohio Healthy Families Act

History

The Sick Days Ohio Group began lobbying in 2007 after stating that 2.2 million people in Ohio were not earning enough paid sick days. They successfully lobbied for support, and in August of 2008, proponents of a state statute for the Ohio Healthy Families Act collected more than 240,000 signatures to get this initiative submitted to the Ohio Legislature for the November 2008 ballot. The Ohio Legislature withdraw the measure due to pressure from businesses and opponents arguing that the bill would lead to a loss of jobs in a state that was already struggling with job losses.

The bill would have mandated that companies with 25 or more employees provide seven days of paid sick leave each year for employees who worked 30 or more hours each week. Part-time employees were to receive a pro-rated amount of paid sick days.

Service Employees International Union District 1199, a labor union heavily involved with the ballot initiative, formed a coalition called Ohioans for Healthy Families in an attempt to push the initiative forward. Local news outlet Bucyrus Online reported in 2008 that public opinion polls conducted by the Columbus Dispatch and Quinnipiac University revealed that more than 70 percent of Ohians were in favor of the measure. President Barack Obama also supported the initiative.

Opponents of the Ohio Healthy Families Act argued that the measure would lead to more job losses. A group called Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits put pressure on the Ohio Legislature to drop it (Reference 4). The Ohio Roundtable also opposed the initiative and developed a website called "Play Sick Ohio" with a tag line that read "Killing Ohio Jobs, Hurting Ohio Families." The gay community also opposed the measure because they said the bill did not include provisions for gay employees.

The Ohio Healthy Families Act was dropped from the ballot in September 2008. However, a federal bill emerged soon after with many similar provisions as the Ohio Healthy Families Act. On May 18, 2009, Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro introduced the Healthy Families Act of 2009 (H.R. 2460) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would require employers with more than 15 employees to provide workers with up to 56 hours of paid sick leave each year. The bill was being passed around in the legislature as of March 2010.