COLUMBUS

Opponents of collective-bargaining reform passed by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich have been given the green light to collect signatures to repeal the law.

Secretary of State Jon Husted certified the initial signatures submitted by the group We Are Ohio, and Attorney General Mike DeWine approved the language contained in the shorter of two petitions submitted to his office to review.

The approvals from the two Republican officeholders were needed before We Are Ohio could circulate its petitions. The group will need to collect more than 231,000 signatures from registered voters throughout the state before the end of June to qualify for the November ballot.

Senate Bill 5 opponents don’t think they’ll have a problem meeting those requirements.

“Most petition-drive campaigns in this state struggle to get volunteers to help them,” said Dennis Willard, a spokesman for We Are Ohio. “We have thousands of people asking us not where do I sign?” but where do I sign up to become a petition circulator.

Senate Bill 5 places limits on collective bargaining, changing the way public workers have negotiated contract terms for nearly three decades.

It allows more than 350,000 public employees to negotiate for wages, hours, safety-equipment needs and working terms and conditions but not other issues.

It prohibits those workers from striking, caps employer contributions to health-care premiums and requires employees’ pay to be based on their performance, not solely on seniority.

The bill passed the Ohio House and Senate on mostly party-line votes and was signed into law by Kasich late last month.

Proponents say the law enables state and local governments to control their costs better, but opponents say it’s a politically motivated attack on unions.

Opponents have about 90 days to complete the referendum process to place the legislation on the November ballot. If they succeed, Senate Bill 5 will not take effect until after the election — or never if voters reject it.

On Friday, Husted certified 2,506 signatures of 2,835 collected by the group, which needed 1,000 to meet the initial referendum requirement. The secretary of state also signed off on the full text of Senate Bill 5, which was submitted to his office for review.

DeWine OK’d the summary language for the shorter version of We Are Ohio’s petition but rejected a longer version, saying it was “far too lengthy and detailed to be considered a short and concise summing up of the matter.”

Willard said We Are Ohio will launch the petition drive in coming days. Additional information about that effort will be available on the group’s website, www.weareohio.com.

Published: Sat, April 16, 2011 @ 12:10 a.m.
By Marc Kovac
news@vindy.com

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

Video hearings are coming to the ICO. Will this create more sterile hearings? Will this desensitize hearing officers who will not be physically in the hearing room? Only time will tell. Video hearings between the Portsmouth office of the Industrial Commission of Ohio and the headquarters in Columbus have apparently had successful results, and will save the state more than $200,000 per year.

Christa D. Deegan, Executive Director of The Industrial Commission of Ohio, said the first video hearings were conducted between the Portsmouth and Columbus IC offices on June 24, 2010. Now, video hearings are being held three days a week, and by the end of July, the IC plans to have video equipment installed in its Cambridge, Logan and Cincinnati offices as well.

Deegan said over the next 10 years, the use of video hearings in place of having a hearing officer travel will save the IC more than $2 million in travel expenses.

“Once video hearings are in full swing at these five offices, we are going to look at adding video hearings to our Mansfield and Lima offices as well,” Deegan said.

A video hearing is exactly the same as a regular IC hearing with one exception: Instead of the hearing officer being in the room, there will be a video monitor. Deegan said the hearing officer will still be able to see and hear everything that takes place in the hearing room.

“Video hearings in our Portsmouth office have been favorably received by the public, and our hearing officers are able to better utilize their work hours,” Deegan said. “Our goal is to make the convenience of video hearings available to serve our customers across the state.”

The IC conducts hearings on disputed workers’ compensation claims, determines violations of specific safety requirements, and determines if an injured worker is permanently and temporarily disabled due to a work-related injury or occupational disease. The IC conducts over 180,000 hearings annually and most hearings take place within 45 days of the original claim appeal.

Three governor-appointed commissioners lead the agency, headquartered in Columbus, which has five regional and seven district offices throughout the state

Deegan listed several other benefits of video hearings:

• Reduce state pool car use, allowing the IC to move state cars to areas with a greater need

• Allow hearings officers in one IC office to handle hearings for another office. This will spread the workload evenly and allow for quick docket reassignments due to hearing officer illnesses or emergencies

• A docket could list hearings for one location per day, or hearings could be conducted for multiple locations in a workday

• Productivity will increase because hearings may be held during the time that hearing officers would have spent traveling

• Hearing cancellations due to bad weather will decrease since hearing officers will no longer have to travel to other officers

Read more: Portsmouth Daily Times – City Has Video Talks With State Commission

© 2010, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

Effective November 6, 2009, the Industrial Commission consolidated the Hamilton and Cincinnati offices. As a result of the consolidation, the Industrial Commission closed the Hamilton office and hearings will be held in the Cincinnati office.

Effective August 21, 2009, the Industrial Commission consolidated the Bridgeport and Zanesville offices into a new office in Cambridge. Hearings for claims which had been held in Bridgeport or Zanesville will be held in the Commission office closest to the injured worker’s residence.

Effective June 26, 2009, the Industrial Commission closed the Canton office. The Canton office has been consolidated into the Akron office. This closing followed the March, 2009, closing of the Springfield office, which was consolidated into the Dayton office.

Effective March 27, 2009, both the BWC and Industrial Commission closed their offices in Springfield and consolidated that office into the Dayton Service Office. Injured workers and employers who used the Springfield Service Office will be advised to go to Dayton or Columbus.

With all of the above office closings, the BWC and IC will be down to 15 service offices throughout the state, an inconvenience to injured workers in the affected closing areas.

© 2010, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.