Dear Governor DeWine:

The Central Ohio Worker Center (COWC) applauds the way you and the Ohio Department of Health have responded to the Coronavirus crisis. We thank you for your leadership, for taking this pandemic seriously, and for making decisions based on science, expert advice, and the well-being of all Ohioans. We are proud that Ohio is leading the nation in its COVID-19 response.

The Central Ohio Worker Center is a volunteer driven advocacy organization for working people. Our mission is to ensure that all workers, regardless of their immigration status or their earnings, are treated with respect and dignity in our communities. Too many low income and immigrant workers have nowhere to turn when their employers do not pay them all the wages they are owed, or when they experience workplace discrimination. The COWC was created to fill this crucial gap in our community.

Many of the people who seek our help are in precarious employment situations. They live paycheck to paycheck, job to job, and contract to contract with irregular hours or sporadic schedules. These workers clean offices and homes, perform construction work, drive for Lyft or Uber, and pick up work from apps and websites when it is available. Many of these workers have been sent home to protect public health. That’s the right call, but it also exposes the many shortcomings of our current unemployment system and the need for a comprehensive paid sick leave policy.

Recent changes to our unemployment compensation system are particularly important for the working people of Ohio, many of whom have lost jobs or experienced a reduction in hours and pay or soon will because of the crisis. However, as you know, not all working people are eligible for unemployment compensation. Our current unemployment laws exclude tens of thousands of so-called gig economy workers and purported independent contractors. They are losing their jobs, too. With no income or unemployment benefits, they will be unable to pay for food, rent, transportation, medical care or utilities. Their lack of consumer spending will also negatively impact other businesses in Ohio, making the economic crisis worse for everyone.

We hear from other workers who are part of the low-wage economy. Many bar, restaurant, and coffee shop workers, fast food workers and front-line retail workers in our state are living paycheck to paycheck, often with very few or no benefits. Typical annual earnings for a server or food service worker in Ohio are just over $19,000. Cashiers earn slightly more than $20,000 a year. Depending on these workers' base period hours and earnings, they may earn too little to qualify for unemployment benefits.

We ask you to do everything in your power to support those workers and their families through this crisis, both on a state level and through advocacy for better federal policies. Recent changes to federal leave and paid sick day initiatives are a good first step, but Ohio legislators should revise our unemployment eligibility standards so that more workers impacted by the crisis are covered and benefits are extended to parents who have had to leave their jobs, not because their employer has reduced their hours or cut their shift, but because they have to care for kids who can’t go to school.

The state of Ohio should also pass paid sick leave policies to supplement the federal legislation, which has too many exclusions and exemptions. As you are aware, the federal program doesn’t offer help to workers if they are employed by companies with more than 500 employees. Millions of workers will not have access to paid sick days because of this exemption. Small employers, with fewer than 50 workers can request exemptions. Further, there’s no help for workers who are considered self-employed or independent contractors.

Workers are the heart of Ohio, but a disproportionate share of the workers who are on the front-lines of this crisis in jobs that are at risk for increased exposure to COVID-19, including retail, food service, cashiers, and cleaners, to name a few, are also the workers who fall through the policy gaps because they are “gig” workers, temporaries, improperly classified as independent contractors, or just don’t earn enough from their jobs to qualify. Workers of color, and immigrants are over- represented in these precarious employment situations.

We hope that you will continue to prioritize assisting the most vulnerable in our state during this public health and economic emergency. Once again, thank you for your leadership.