More than three quarters of Ohio workers are estimated to not have access to paid leave. They could get up to 14 weeks of state-funded paid leave to help them deal with newborns, medical emergencies, or elderly or ill family members, under a bipartisan bill in the Ohio Senate and a similar Republican-sponsored bill in the House.
When her twins were born at just 28 weeks, Madison Greenspan of the Cleveland area said she and her husband struggled to keep their jobs and spend time with their babies in neonatal intensive care. She went back to work three weeks after delivering by C-section so she could build up time to be home with her children once they were discharged from the NICU. She ended up leaving her job.
"I do believe that if paid family leave existed, then I would have had a fighting chance of being able to keep my job and care for my daughters," Greenspan said. "We were fortunate we were able to survive on one income for a short time, but other families aren't able to."
That was three years ago. Greenspan is now advocating for Senate Bill 396, which would create a family and medical leave insurance program administered by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The program would be funded by workers and employers each kicking in payroll contributions of .4%. The bill would allow workers to take up to 14 weeks of paid leave in a 12-month period, for conditions and situations that qualify for job-protected time off under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Companies that offer longer leave can opt out of the program.
Sen. Beth Liston (D-Dublin) is one of the bill's sponsors, and a doctor. She said she had to go back to work four and a half weeks after her son was born because the bills accumulated during her medical residency were piling up.
"Millions in our state are faced with this type of situation. In fact, I would argue that almost everybody is faced with a situation like this at some point, whether it's related to a new birth, a family member that's sick at home, a new health diagnosis that they have or other tragedy," Liston said. "It's really hard to recover from a financial hit of taking an unpaid leave."
The bill's other joint sponsor is Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.), who called the measure both a pro-business and pro-life idea. But he did admit that getting this bill through the legislature in the remaining eight months of the session may not happen.
"I like to err on the side of getting this out there for public consumption to build support," Blessing said. “I do think it's something that leadership is going to have to look at very strongly, because I would imagine this is incredibly popular, amongst Ohioans generally. And there's something like, 14 or 15 states that have already done this.”
Similar legislation is expected in the House from Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon). There's also a bill from Rep. Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk) that would allow insurers to offer paid family leave policies to Ohio employers.
Democrats have proposed paid family and medical leave act in previous sessions of the legislature, which have gone nowhere.
A study from Brandeis University showed 77% of Ohio workers don't have paid leave through their employers.
