City, county, school and college employees across Ohio would receive less annual sick leave under a bill introduced yesterday in the Ohio General Assembly, The Journal-News reported.
The bill reduces the number of sick days given to public employees to 10. This is already the maximum for state employees, but many local government employees get up to 15 days of sick leave a year.
“We’re aligning what state workers get and local government,” said Derek Merrin, R-Monclove Twp., who sponsored the bill.
He called the 15-day limit for local government “an excessive state mandate that drives up cost for local governments.”
“It’s way out of line with private sector standards and needs to be reduced,” he said. “I’m fighting for the average taxpayer that is footing the bill for this.”
Merrin said limiting annual sick leave will also reduce the amount of sick leave public employees cash out annually and at the end of their careers.
“The reason there’s a cash-out is they are being provided an excessive number of sick days,” Merrin said.
The Journal-Newsis a media partner of WCPO.com.
