I just wanted to know, regarding this proposed law for Ohio, which wants to require all employers provide 7 paid sick days to employees, if a company has established a PTO bank, versus segregating Vacation/Holiday, will this be an alternative to needing to add 7 additional paid days?

Sorry this sounds confusing, but just trying to understand the potential effect of this possible new law.

Thanks.

Do you have a link to the proposed law? Not all of us in other states have seen the details.

http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:KhgoxkKTs5QJ:www.sickdaysohio.org/pdfs/Ohio%2520Healthy%2520Families%2520Act%2520Proposed %2520Summary,%2520Legislation.pdf+ohio+proposed+la w+sick&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

Thanks, DAW.

As I read the law, if you already have a policy by which an employee can take as many as seven sick days (regardless of whether you call them sick days or PTO days) you will not have to add additional days.

That's assuming that not only does the law pass, but that it passes exactly as worded. The chances that it will pass exactly as it stands now with no changes or amendments are not very high.

I wouldn't worry until you see the final wording of the policy, assuming it passes at all.

Agreed. There is a lot of proposed legislation. Most of it never becomes law. And if it does become law, the final version might not look much like the proposed version. It is IMO a waste of time to worry about what-ifs and might-never-becomes. If/when this becomes a law, then Goggle search the law and see what the pundits have to say. The chances that Ohio is going to be kicking in doors looking for employers to violate the day after the law goes into effect is not good. Even if the law passes, you will have more then enough time to worry about implementation then, just like everyone else.

The HFA in it's current form is what will be on the November ballot. It will not go through legislation and is the result of the SEIU garnering the recommend signatures to bypass the legislative body. The act is quite vague and makes it almost impossible to predict. Unfortunately, for the OP, the answer is "I don't know". If the law passes there will most certainly be years and years of litigation to figure out what exactly it means.

The safe thing to do now, if you don't have a bona fide sick leave policy that provides at least 7 sick days for full time employees is to create one prior to Nov. 4. If that means taking PTO or vacation days away from your employees then let them know that will be the expense of the law. If the law fails, you can always change your policy back to the original. That said, if you already have a bona fide sick day policy and the law passes, you may have to make seven of those days abide by the articles of the law (taken in the same amount of time that you track for pay, no doctors note unless 3 or more consecutive days missed, and NO recourse). But....the law is so vague that even that is currently not a known.

The best option is to tell your employees to vote NO to ISSUE 4.