The Columbus Dispatch
Leaders of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission were ready yesterday to tell skeptical lawmakers that guaranteeing women 12 weeks of maternity leave would ensure gender equality without hurting the economy.
They never got the chance.
Without a word from members of the civil-rights panel, a group of lawmakers yesterday shot down a proposal to grant Ohio women 12 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for pregnancy.
It took 15 minutes for the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review to strike down what the commission had spent six months creating. Saying that some employers abused or were confused by the existing standard of "reasonable" time off for pregnancy, the panel wanted to grant 12 weeks.
The commission's contention that the new standard wouldn't cost employers anything proved to be its undoing.
"Their conclusion is wrong," said Sen. Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, the panel's vice chairman.
"The impact on the cities and the townships and the counties is going to be dramatic," added Rep. William G. Batchelder, R-Medina.
The joint committee's 9-1 vote -- only Rep. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, dissented -- wasn't supposed to be a commentary on whether the idea of 12 weeks of maternity leave is worthwhile. Rather, the joint committee was supposed to concern itself only with whether the commission has the authority to impose that standard and whether the commission did its homework in anticipating the effect on government.
The commission was not required to project any cost to private businesses, but Batchelder and others noted that many units of government would be affected.
Yesterday's vote doesn't necessarily kill the pregnancy-leave policy, but it does set it back at least a few months. The 10-member legislative rules committee had the ability to enact the policy without a vote of the full legislature because the change is considered a clarification of the law rather than a new law.
Yesterday's "no" vote left some women's advocates smarting.
"Perhaps this isn't the most PC thing to say, but I'm less interested in the technicalities than I am in the health of Ohio women," said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.
Barbara A. Sykes, chairwoman of the Civil Rights Commission and a former state lawmaker, was among 10 commission representatives lined up in the front row who were prepared to make the case for the pregnancy policy.
Sykes was angry that she and the others weren't given the opportunity to speak.
"I am almost amazed by the process we just witnessed," she said afterward.
"The real issue today is about women and pregnancy and whether or not they are able to care for their children without being concerned about (losing) their job," Sykes said. "That was just absolutely not addressed."
Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, the chairman of the panel that turned down the policy yesterday, said he hopes the commission tries again -- but with more documentation on the cost of the mandated leave.
"We're more than happy to be engaged on what we think is an important issue," McGregor said.
Although Republican- leaning business groups had led the opposition to the policy, McGregor and Niehaus said their votes were based on the lack of data, not political considerations. The joint committee's six Republicans all voted against the policy, while three of the four Democrats joined them.
The federal Family Medical Leave Act already requires employers with 50 or more employees to grant 12 weeks off to pregnant employees who have been on the job for a year. The state policy would apply to companies with four or more employees and would take effect immediately upon hiring.
Sykes said she will confer with the other four members of the commission to determine whether to try again.
jnash@dispatch.com
