Ohio's Coronavirus Omnibus Bill Does Not Address Paid Sick Leave

COLUMBUS, OH — On Monday evening, Ohio's General Assembly unanimously passed a sweeping legislative package to address numerous facets of life impacted by the new coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak. The bill tackles extending Ohio's primary, moving the state's tax filing deadline and waiving state testing for schools. But the bill failed to address one critical issue: paid sick leave for employees.

“What’s missing in the omnibus package is emergency paid sick leave for the people we are requiring to stay home. That is a shame. I am hearing some of my colleagues say they want people off of public assistance, so when we provide families the tools to be more self-sufficient, they need to support those measures,” said state Rep. Janine Boyd, a Democrat from Cleveland Heights.

Boyd and state Rep. Kristin Boggs, a Democrat from Columbus, introduced emergency legislation to provide up to 21 days of emergency paid sick leave for Ohioans. Their bill would also allow 1099 employees and contract workers to receive unemployment compensation.

Their proposals were left out of the COVID-19 omnibus legislative package.

“I’ve been trying to pass Paid Family and Medical Leave legislation since 2016, most recently House Bill 91 in the 133rd General Assembly,” said Boyd. “The language has always been employer friendly because it’s an employee-driven fund that the state would run or bid out to another entity to operate the insurance program, and there would be little to no cost to the employer. If we had passed this bill, many of the people who are required to stay home to save lives would have access to their own money through a Paid Family and Medical Leave insurance program.”

On a national level, the Federal Family Frist Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law last week. The legislation established a federal emergency paid leave benefits program to help provide payments to employees taking unpaid leave due to COVID-19. However, the bill does not cover private employers with more than 500 workers or employers with less than 50 employees.