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Deadline for a deal

The governor rightly wants to avoid a messy campaign about sick pay. That means the various players must deliver a smart compromise now

Published on Friday, Aug 15, 2008

Ted Strickland rightly argues that Ohio would suffer if a significant share of the fall campaign involved a noisy and expensive fight over a statewide ballot issue calling for mandated, paid sick leave for employees. The governor set today as a deadline for reaching a compromise that would advance the interests of workers yet avoid the many flaws in the proposed Healthy Families Act. If the various players need an incentive to reach agreement, they would do well to look at a Quinnipiac University poll reaffirming that roughly 70 percent of voters approve the ballot issue.

To be sure, that percentage likely would fall once opponents mounted their campaign. That is just the governor's point. A mammoth effort would be required, Ohioans exchanging blows, hardly a flattering picture. More, if the measure prevailed, the state would be stuck with a poorly written and poorly conceived mandate, something that would greatly harm the business climate and job creation.

Again, the concept of paid sick leave isn't the problem. Many companies already provide the benefit, grasping, among other things, the value in attracting and retaining good employees. At the same time, many small businesses simply cannot afford paid sick leave. Thus, any reasonable compromise must address the proposed threshold requiring companies with at least 25 employees to meet the mandate. Better 50 workers? Seventy-five?

In addition, many small firms will struggle to cover the cost of seven mandated sick days each year. Flexibility in this area must be part of a compromise.

Perhaps most dismaying about the proposal, pushed largely by the Service Employees International Union, is the failure to appreciate that a workplace involves employees and employers. The proposal often reads like a wish list of unions. A smaller business cannot be managed effectively if employees are permitted to take paid sick leave an hour at a time. The proposal invites abuse. It lacks clarity regarding how the measure would apply to company sick leave policies already in place. It even fails to define precisely what is an ''employee.''

It is chilling to think of the trouble that would ensue for Ohio if the ballot issue became law as proposed. Consider the avalanche of litigation alone. Remember, too, that proponents already have the signatures necessary to reach the ballot.

All of this signals why it is important for the governor and his negotiating partners, including the Ohio Business Roundtable, to succeed in reaching an intelligent compromise. The point often is made that Ohio would be the first state to have mandated paid sick leave. (The California legislature cast aside the idea earlier this month.) Such a mandate could be beneficial if it is smartly and carefully crafted.

That isn't the case now, and the businesses working with the governor have made plain that if a reasonable compromise isn't reached, they will fight vigorously to defeat the ballot issue — as they should.

Ted Strickland rightly argues that Ohio would suffer if a significant share of the fall campaign involved a noisy and expensive fight over a statewide ballot issue calling for mandated, paid sick leave for employees. The governor set today as a deadline for reaching a compromise that would advance the interests of workers yet avoid the many flaws in the proposed Healthy Families Act. If the various players need an incentive to reach agreement, they would do well to look at a Quinnipiac University poll reaffirming that roughly 70 percent of voters approve the ballot issue.

Get the full article here.


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