“Unlike the newly proposed benefits, FMLA’s primary purpose is job protection, allowing employees to take time off without fear of losing their jobs. Whether pay or short-term disability insurance is offered while eligible employees use FMLA varies by employer. The National Partnership for Women and Families says only about 60% of Ohioans are eligible for FMLA.
“The new bill would promise to deliver a benefit to the 77% of workers, or about 4.5 million people according to the organization, in Ohio who currently are not eligible for paid leave through their employers.
“’The lack of paid leave has devastating costs for Ohioans and their families and for the entire state’s economy by shrinking the workforce and lowering productivity, cutting workers’ incomes and harming public health amid a scarcity of reproductive and maternal health care,’ wrote the organization in February.”

