Be afraid! We may have to raise the plague flag over the State of Ohio. The Ohio Healthy Families Act (better known as the "Sick Days Ohio" Act) has submitted enough signatures to be placed on the November ballot. Be aware, there is nothing healthy about this initiative. As outlined in Ballotpedia, these petitions now move on to the Secretary of State for signature certification. If it clears this step, the next move places it on the ballot. If passed, we can expect to see a serious malaise quickly sweeping Ohio businesses.
Were this "Typhoid Mary" of legislation to pass in November, we could expect a painful infection to flourish as it passed through the state. Trapped between the contagious rats of onerous government regulation and the inevitable symptoms engendered by the costs of compliance and the loss of productivity, there would be numerous businesses that simply would not survive. Many currently flourishing companies would suffer and die a lingering, horrible death at the hands of this debilitating disorder, knowing that they had been done in by an infection caused by government imposed paper cuts.
Some of those who will survive would do so maimed by this malady and as mere crippled shadows of their former selves. Many more would flee Ohio, rather than face the pestilence that waits at their very doorstep. Nor can we expect any business would violate the Quarantine such a law can and would impose, or dare to cross our borders as long as the plague flag continued to fly over our state.
We can yet see this contagion pass us by. We have only to inoculate ourselves with a vote against this initiative should it reach the ballot. We have only to tell the state that we need no further legislation, regulation, or subjugation to inhibit the entrance or growth of business in Ohio. Failure of this simple preventative measure however, can lead only to the cries of "Bring out your dead" for the future economic growth of the State of Ohio.
4 comments:
Tim,
In an already bad business climate here, I cant think of a worse move than passing this if it gets on the ballot.
You are so right Ben. The amazing thing is that anyone is that anyone (other than a union) could think that there couldn't be a better thing than passing it.
I'm not a fan of unions, I'd love to believe that these lower paying jobs that don't come with sick days that two of my daughters currently work in would end up in a market scenario where employers would willingly want to offer paid sick days to get good employees.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. When you see one of your children be faced with the decision of going into work sick, knowing that she is handling food, because she has to go to work, if you can not find someone to cover for you, then you go in or your only alternative no matter the illness is to not only not be paid for the sick day but you must provide a doctor's note before you come back into work. There has been more than one time when they should have been sent home, someone that ill should not be handling food. I would not want a waitress hacking and sniffling and coughing or continually running to the bathroom from the flu.
How many of you can get into your doctor the same day you call in with an illness that your physician can't even treat, such as a virus? What about those who don't have health insurance since these places of employment don't provide that either, not only would you not get paid for the day you miss but it would cost you quite a bit at an Urgent care center to retain your job.
In places where this has been voted in, such as San Francisco, it did not have the affect on businesses that was feared.
I don't disagree that there should be a better way, yet it does not appear those who oppose this have come up with an alternative suggestion.
Lisa,
I would not disagree that something might need to be done, but this isn't it. The legislation being proposed will only force employers to take something else away in order to be able to afford to pay for this government mandate. The result will not be a net gain, regardless of what might have happened in SF (a lovely place, but living in their own world and playing by their own rules). As fargile as the Midwest economy is, I believe that this would probably lead to a loss of jobs in Ohio.
The situation that you are describing in the food industry strikes me as something that our health department should likewise be looking at. Having contagious individuals handling food is a health risk to all.
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