COLUMBUS – Numerous changes to a GOP-backed bill to overhaul Ohio’s unemployment-compensation system failed to satisfy critics who say the legislation reduces benefits to jobless workers and eliminates them for some.
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“These changes are devastating and unfair for Ohio’s workers,” Kristin Seifert Watson, a Columbus labor- and employment-law attorney, testified on Tuesday before the House Insurance Committee, which is studying the bill.
Watson cited several provisions in House Bill 394, including one to prohibit workers from receiving jobless benefits if they were fired for violating terms of an employee handbook.
“This provision would disqualify employees from receiving benefits if they are discharged for violations such as returning one minute late from break, wearing the wrong color shirt, or parking in the wrong parking spot. The possibilities are endless,” Watson said.
Another concern she noted regarded language to disqualify an employee from receiving benefits when an employer changes the requirements of the position and the employee is unable to perform the new duties and is fired.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Barbara Sears, (R-Sylvania) said the provision was intended to protect employees. It “allows employers to make a good-faith effort to work with an employee to make things work” as job requirements change, she said.
But Watson said that the language in the bill doesn’t support Sears’ explanation.