Associated Press...
State this month will reimburse workers for personal days they gave up
By Julie Carr Smyth
Thursday August 11, 2011 

COLUMBUS — Ohio will pay cash to tens of thousands of state workers this month to make up for personal days they gave up over the past two years to help balance the state budget, The Associated Press has learned. 

Each full-time employee is receiving the equivalent of four days’ wages plus four sick days in exchange for eight personal days they agreed not to accrue under a 2009 union contract. The money comes Aug. 26; the sick days were added in July. 

The contract was touted at the time by both unions and then-Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration for the concessions it contained in the midst of the national recession, including the personal day accrual cuts, 10 forced furlough days, pay freeze and an increased share of health care costs for workers. The state calculates that the contract has saved it about $400 million during the past two years.

It also included provisions for the personal-day reimbursements, though they were not emphasized at the time. 

Sally Meckling, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the largest union involved in the contract negotiations, said the personal-day reimbursement is a small bright spot. 

Read the rest of the story at the Columbus Dispatch