Businesses May Reduce Benefits Ahead of Sick Day Policy
Sunday, August 24, 2008 12:59 PM
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.
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 of it, and employees who are afforded the opportunity 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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