155.05 DRUG FREE WORKPLACE POLICY.
(a) In HB 523, Ohio adopted a comprehensive medical marijuana statutory scheme to regulate the use, dispensing and employee use of medical marijuana. The legislature in the statutory scheme allows cities in Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 3796.28 to prohibit the use of medical marijuana by employees or prospective employees of the City. That section provides:
Sec. 3796.28.
(A) Nothing in this chapter does any of the following:
(1) Requires an employer to permit or accommodate an employee’s use, possession, or distribution of medical marijuana;
(2) Prohibits an employer from refusing to hire, discharging, disciplining, or otherwise taking an adverse employment action against a person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of that person’s use, possession, or distribution of medical marijuana;
(3) Prohibits an employer from establishing and enforcing a drug testing policy, drug-free workplace policy, or zero-tolerance drug policy;
(4) Interferes with any federal restrictions on employment, including the regulations adopted by the United States Department of Transportation in Sub. H.B. No. 523 131st G.A. 36 Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as amended;
(5) Permits a person to commence a cause of action against an employer for refusing to hire, discharging, disciplining, discriminating, retaliating, or otherwise taking an adverse employment action against a person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment related to medical marijuana adopted by the administrator under Chapter 4123 of the Revised Code.
(B) A person who is discharged from employment because of that person’s use of medical marijuana shall be considered to have been discharged for just cause for purposes of division (D) of Section 4141.29 of the Revised Code if the person’s use of medical marijuana was in violation of an employer’s drug-free workplace policy, zero-tolerance policy, or other formal program or policy regulating the use of medical marijuana;
(6) Affects the authority of the administrator of workers’ compensation to grant rebates or discounts on premium rates to employers that participate in a drug-free workplace program established in accordance with rules.
(b) Pursuant to ORC Section 3796.28 (as enacted and amended in the future), Dover reiterates its drug free workplace policy, adopts as if fully rewritten hereinafter the provisions of ORC Section 3796.28, and specifically allows and permits the City and administration to apply, enforce and continue with its drug free workplace policies and use prohibitions and to enforce the provisions as allowed by ORC Section 3796.28.
(c) ORC Section 3796.29 allows a municipality to prohibit marijuana dispensaries with the City.
Said section specifically provides:
Sec. 3796.29. The legislative authority of a municipal corporation may adopt an ordinance, or a board of township trustees may adopt a resolution, to prohibit, or limit the number of, cultivators, processors, or retail dispensaries licensed under this chapter within the municipal corporation or within the unincorporated territory of the township, respectively. This section does not authorize the legislative authority of a municipal corporation or a board of township trustees to adopt an ordinance or resolution limiting research related to marijuana conducted at a state university, academic medical center, or private research and development organization as part of a research protocol approved by an institutional review board of equivalent entity.
(d) Dover adopts the permissible provisions of ORC Section 3796.29 and prohibits cultivators, processors, and retail dispensaries licensed under ORC Chapter 3796 within the City of Dover.
ORC Section 3796.04(G)(4) allows municipalities to prohibit marijuana use in public places. Dover specifically prohibits marijuana use in public places.
(Ord. 31-16. Passed 9-6-16.)