Employment
OPLC Senior Attorney Mike Smalz participates in Advocates for Ohio’s Future press conference on HB 394
January 2016Video and article from Channel 10, Columbus, Ohio is here
Continue ReadingWe Thought We Had Resolved Electronic Access to Unemployment Compensation, But…
April 2014Last July we told you about House Bill 2 – the bill that as originally proposed would have required every unemployed Ohio worker seeking unemployment compensation benefits to electronically “register” (prepare and post a complete job resume) on the new OhioMeansJobs before he or she could receive any unemployment benefits. Check out our July 25, […]
Continue ReadingAdvocates Improve Unemployment Compensation Bill for Ohio Workers
July 2013The Ohio General Assembly has passed new unemployment compensation legislation, House Bill 2 (HB 2), and Governor Kasich signed HB 2 on July 11, 2013. It becomes law 90 days after the Governor’s signature, but certain requirements take effect at a later date. As a result of advocacy by Mike Smalz (Ohio Poverty Law center), Hannah Halbert (Policy Matters) and […]
Continue ReadingSchool Discipline Is a Community Issue: Why People Whose Kids Are Grown or Who Don’t Have Kids Should Care About What’s Happening in Our Schools
August 2012Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?” Jane Nelson Children “should be fully prepared to live an individual life […]
Continue ReadingUnderstanding Prepaid Debit Cards – Starting Up The Learning Curve
August 2012On July 25 the Ohio Poverty Law Center sponsored “Law and Economics of Poverty”, a training for legal aid attorneys in Ohio, at which many of us were introduced to prepaid debit cards as an alternative to conventional banking. Also referred to as general purpose reloadable prepaid cards (GPR prepaid cards), these cards are relatively […]
Continue ReadingNew Legislation Would Extend Unemployment Compensation Benefits to Some Part-Time Ohio Workers
July 2012HB 484, sponsored by Rep. Mike Duffey (R-Worthington), would create the so-called Shared Work Ohio program. Under the bill, if a Shared Work program is approved by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), employees whose hours are reduced instead of being laid off will maintain pension and health care benefits and would […]
Continue ReadingNew Ohio Human Trafficking Law
July 2012On June 27, 2012, Governor Kasich signed the new Ohio Human Trafficking Law, House Bill 262 (HB 262), after it was passed by the Ohio General Assembly in mid-June. It becomes law on September 26, 2012. Human trafficking—i.e., trafficking of persons, usually undocumented immigrants and often minors, who are forced into prostitution or slave labor—is a serious and […]
Continue ReadingGovernor Kasich Signs New Collateral Sanctions Law
July 2012On June 26, 2012, Governor Kasich signed Senate Bill 337 (SB 337), which removes, or creates mechanisms for removing, a wide range of so-called “collateral sanctions” against ex-offenders and prisoners who are reentering society. These collateral consequences create major barriers to prisoner reentry and encourage recidivism by ex-offenders by making it more difficult for ex-offenders to […]
Continue ReadingCollateral Sanctions Bills Will Help Ohioans Get Back on Their Feet
May 2012“You want to give people a chance and help them get their lives back” – John Kasich, Governor of Ohio Many advocates for the poor know what “collateral sanctions” are and how they impact our low-income client population, but many members of the general public might not realize what they are or […]
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