The latest hub-bub in Ohio and around the country has been the push for all employers to offer paid sick days to all of their employees. The proposal, currently working its way through state legislation, is under fire because many see it as yet another area where the government is stepping into the business sector.

This may be true, but this time I am behind the intrusion as long as the lawmakers can draft a law which provides some minimum of mandatory sick days to employees, while also allowing for many of the notable exceptions included in the new minimum wage law. Hopefully it will also provide some flexibility in there as well. All that, and it has my yes vote!

This is a good idea for one simple reason. The first thing you hear from teachers and school administrators is to keep your kids home when they are sick so that whatever they have isn't spread throughout the entire school. This same principle applies to small businesses, maybe even more so because a good deal of them do not have the capacity to carry on with five employees all out since Jayne didn't stay home with pink eye because rent was due next week.

One of the latest and greatest "ideas" for a new burden to put onto businesses is paid sick days. Local governments are discussing mandates for sick leave, which would require employers to give all employees sick days.

I'm not opposed to the idea of sick days in general. It's a nice benefit to give to people who have actually earned it. The sick days come in handy when someone in the family is sick. The person can skip work without missing out on the pay.

Yet it's insane to require employers to give this benefit. Benefits are exactly what they sound like: earned rewards at jobs that are provided at the option of the employer. Some jobs offer benefits, some do not. Those who wish to have benefits have every opportunity in the United States to work hard, get training and education, and move up to a job that offers benefits.

But it seems that plenty of politicians don't care if employees earn their benefits or not. You see, the market dictates what a job is worth. If a good employee can do the same job elsewhere for more pay and more benefits, she or he will probably quit and go elsewhere. The market tells the employer how much to pay and what to offer. But politicians and activists don't care about the free market.