12-Week Maternity Leave for Ohio Moms?

That's what the Ohio Civil Rights Commission is proposing:

The minimum maternity leave is part of proposed changes for the state's pregnancy-discrimination rule, which now requires companies to give women a ''reasonable period of time'' off work to care for their newborn.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission wants to end confusion by defining what's ''reasonable'' for a minimum maternity leave, said Toni Delgado, spokeswoman for the commission.

It's always tough (at least in this country) to walk the line between pro-business and pro-family. On the business-friendly side, the proposal does not require that employees be paid during leave. It also allows the rules to be bent for small businesses that would suffer undue hardship from losing an employee for 3 months.

On the pro-family side, the proposed changes would apply regardless of how long the employee has been on the job. This is different from federal law, which applies only to employees who have been on the job for at least one year.

The boardroom-backed Ohio Chamber of Commerce is wary of the changes. But maybe we should be wary of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.