Today's Blade carries this article on the Ohio Civil Rights Commission's vote for mandated maternity leave.
"The Ohio Civil Rights Commission voted 4-1 yesterday to require companies with four or more employees to allow women 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.
The policy change now goes to a legislative rule review committee that generally approves measures without issue.
But the Ohio Chamber of Commerce said it will argue that the commission overstepped its authority with the change, which should be debated by the state legislature.
With the requirement, Ohio would join at least 18 other states that provide more generous maternity benefits than required in federal mandates."
Perhaps it's just my lack of knowledge about the structure of this commission, but I guess I didn't think that having a child was a "right."
And why does any state commission get to take a vote that mandates what is, basically, a new law - and then have this new 'law' go into effect through a legislative rule review committee (JCARR?) without ever having been debated in the legislature?
I realize that some state agencies are tasked with developing the rules to implement laws that are passed, but this mandated maternity leave for companies with as few as 4 employees seems to go beyond anything the legislature intended. And that appears to be the position the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is taking.
When you consider this post about Ohio's bottom ranking in business-friendly states, this one about mandated paid sick days, and this latest from the OCRC, the environment in Ohio isn't looking good for our job providers.
