Paid sick leave act gives Ohio governor a headache

Yet the proposed ballot issue is giving the governor a headache.

Strickland, a Democrat, began speaking out publicly against the so-called Healthy Families Act last week, urging business and labor to get together and work out a compromise that would keep it off the ballot.

His motivations are both practical and political.

The issue would require companies with at least 25 employees to give workers seven sick days a year, with unused sick time carrying over to the next year. The United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers and Service Employees International Union Local 1199--which gave generously to Strickland's 2006 campaign--are pushing the idea.

From a practical standpoint, Strickland clearly is concerned about the measure's economic costs. Like the coalition of business interests that is opposing the issue, he has noted how expensive it would be for companies to provide such a benefit. Currently, 48 percent of private-sector workers in Ohio don't have as much paid sick time as the initiative would require.

A recent analysis of the act by the law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey obtained by The Associated Press pointed to a number of technical issues within the language that could cause legal problems. Among the questions raised:

_ The act allows employees to carry over unused sick time, but also says that it shouldn't be construed as requiring employers to offer more than seven paid sick days in a year. How can both be true?

_ The act restricts release of information about the employee's health without the sick employee's express consent. So could an employer be fined for telling a customer, "He's not in. He's out sick today"?

_ The act forbids an employer from reducing any existing leave in order to comply with the seven-day requirement. What if the employer already offers five paid sick days and two personal days: Would that company be required under the act to offer seven sick days as well as the two personal days, for a total of nine?