Comments on: Politics at work: 5 legal pitfalls for managers http://www.hrlegalnews.com/politics-at-work-5-legal-pitfalls-for-managers/ Up-to-the-minute cases and law impacting HR Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:01:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: SSC http://www.hrlegalnews.com/politics-at-work-5-legal-pitfalls-for-managers/comment-page-1/#comment-2048 SSC Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:23:27 +0000 http://www.hrlegalnews.com/?p=247#comment-2048 What can be done about employers who say they will fire anyone who voted for Obama? What can be done about employers who say they will fire anyone who voted for Obama?

]]> By: HR in Ohio http://www.hrlegalnews.com/politics-at-work-5-legal-pitfalls-for-managers/comment-page-1/#comment-1230 HR in Ohio Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:57:30 +0000 http://www.hrlegalnews.com/?p=247#comment-1230 This is a very challenging topic for employers in Ohio right now. Issue 4, if passed, will require companies with 25 or more employees to provide a minimum of seven paid sick days per year to full-time employees and pro-rated benefits to part-time employees. I do my best to remain neutral when "educating" employees on this, so they can be informed voters. So, I hope you don't mind if I vent my true feelings in this forum. I'm all in favor of paid sick leave benefits; who doesn't want paid sick days? But I'm against having the general population of voters telling me how to allocate my compensation budget dollars - especially when these regulations are so poorly written (but that's another story). Businesses should be free to make these decisions by negotiate with directly with employees and/or unions, if the employees are unionized. The timing for this mandate is also horrible. Where are businesses that don't provide sick leave benefits going to get the funds to pay for this in today's poor economic conditions? We currently offer 5 paid sick days per year, so we're considering reducing other paid time off benefits (vacation and paid holidays) or giving zero pay increases next year to cover this increased expense. I hope the workers in Ohio are prepared to give up something else in order to get these sick days! If you're not in Ohio, you'll still want to watch this. If the sponsor of this bill (SEIU) is successful, expect them to come to your state next or, worse yet, try to push this through at the federal level. This is a very challenging topic for employers in Ohio right now. Issue 4, if passed, will require companies with 25 or more employees to provide a minimum of seven paid sick days per year to full-time employees and pro-rated benefits to part-time employees. I do my best to remain neutral when “educating” employees on this, so they can be informed voters. So, I hope you don’t mind if I vent my true feelings in this forum.

I’m all in favor of paid sick leave benefits; who doesn’t want paid sick days? But I’m against having the general population of voters telling me how to allocate my compensation budget dollars – especially when these regulations are so poorly written (but that’s another story). Businesses should be free to make these decisions by negotiate with directly with employees and/or unions, if the employees are unionized.

The timing for this mandate is also horrible. Where are businesses that don’t provide sick leave benefits going to get the funds to pay for this in today’s poor economic conditions? We currently offer 5 paid sick days per year, so we’re considering reducing other paid time off benefits (vacation and paid holidays) or giving zero pay increases next year to cover this increased expense. I hope the workers in Ohio are prepared to give up something else in order to get these sick days!

If you’re not in Ohio, you’ll still want to watch this. If the sponsor of this bill (SEIU) is successful, expect them to come to your state next or, worse yet, try to push this through at the federal level.

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