Employer considerations if Ohio voters approve recreational marijuana
If Ohioans vote yes on Issue 2 in November, using marijuana recreationally will be legal. However, it will be up to employers to decide if use of the drug will be tolerated or affect drug testing policies.
"Employers [will] need to reevaluate whether or not there is an acceptable amount of marijuana that could be found in someone's drug test, to make a decision on whether or not to terminate [an employee]." Tony Fiore, director of governmental affairs for the Ohio Strategic Human Resource Management State Council, said.
Fiore believes, employers may need to consider how they can make sure people are not using cannabis at work or before they come in, this basically leaves them with three options.
One would be maintaining their zero-tolerance drug related policies. The drawback here is that they could have a harder time finding applicants for job positions. If that's the case, they could eliminate or modify their existing testing policies to eliminate cannabis, much like many employers don't test for alcohol.
Another alternative might be to shift the focus from testing what's in someone's system, which may linger for weeks after the fact, and instead coming up with a new standard aimed at determining whether an employee is actually impaired.
If Issue 2 is passed it would make Ohio the 24th state to legalize recreational use of the drug.