DaytonDailyNews.com

Ohio businesses eyeing voter approval of paid sick days

CLEVELAND — Many Ohio businesses are preparing for the possibility of state-mandated paid sick days by evaluating whether they can continue to provide the same benefits they have been giving their employees.

Businesses are considering trimming back on vacation time, raises, bonuses and perks such as holiday parties if the costs of complying with the sick day policy can't be absorbed or passed off to consumers. The proposal would require businesses with 25 or more employees to provide at least seven paid sick days each year to full-time workers.

Proponents of the bill have turned in petition signatures and are waiting to see if Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner validates them.

A poll published in The Columbus Dispatch on Sunday said that 60 percent of Ohioans favor or strongly favor the proposal, compared to 32 percent who either oppose or strongly oppose. The poll was conducted Aug. 12 through Thursday among 2,102 registered voters and had a margin of sampling error of 2.2 percent.

Backers of the paid sick leave proposal say it would enable the 2.2 million Ohioans without paid sick days to care for themselves and their family without worrying about financial repercussions. Ohio would be the first state with a mandatory paid sick leave policy.

If approved on the November ballot, the measure would prohibit changes to existing leave policies. So, businesses are considering pre-empting the change.

Ohio lawyers are beginning to help business clients understand what will happen if the sick-leave proposal is approved. Some businesses are actively considering cuts in other benefits, while others are wary of damaging employee morale.

"The phones are really starting to ring about this," said Jim Petrie of Bricker & Eckler in Columbus.

Mike Gordon, owner of Tendon Manufacturing in Warrensville Heights, isn't sure what he'll do with time off for his 50 employees, who make sheet metal and machine parts.

Gordon's employees get nine paid holidays a year, as well as 10 to 15 paid days off to use however they want. If he converted seven of those days into paid sick days, employees would only have three to eight vacation days.

But if all employees had off an extra seven days, it would amount to 2,800 fewer hours worked each year.

"I'd have to do something," Gordon said. "I can't absorb that."

Celia McGrath, owner of Olympia Candies in Strongsville, said her company won't hire more workers if the sick-day mandate passes. She has 24 employees, one below the threshold at which the mandate kicks in.

Proponents of the sick-day issue said the business concerns are overblown. Many employees who currently have paid sick leave often don't come close to using all it, and if given the opportunity, other employees would be just as judicious, said Dale Butland, spokesman for Ohioans for Healthy Families.

"The whole point of this is to allow people to use sick days if they need them," he said.

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