Ohio SB 56 Amends Employer Rights Section of Marijuana Law

Ohio Senate Bill (SB) 56 of the 136th General Assembly took effect March 20, 2026, according to the Ohio Legislature. The law revised specified provisions of Ohio's liquor control, hemp and adult-use marijuana laws. Among its changes, it amended Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) § 3796.28, titled "Rights of employer," and repealed sections of R.C. Chapter 3780, including § 3780.35. The Ohio Laws website lists the current version of § 3796.28 as effective March 20, 2026.

SB 56 and the current version of R.C. 3796.28 took effect March 20, 2026.

Legislative Background

Senator Stephen A. Huffman was the primary sponsor of SB 56. The Ohio Legislature lists the bill as signed by the Governor on December 19, 2025, with operating appropriations effective December 19, 2025, and the remainder effective March 20, 2026. The bill's title states that it amends a long list of sections in R.C. Chapter 3796, enacts new sections including §§ 3796.32, 3796.33, 3796.40 and 3796.99, renumbers § 3780.37 as § 3796.34, and repeals a list of R.C. Chapter 3780 sections, including §§ 3780.01, 3780.35 and 3780.99, among others.

What SB 56 Changed in R.C. 3796.28

A comparison of the authenticated versions of § 3796.28 published by Ohio Laws (effective September 30, 2021, and March 20, 2026) shows two changes. First, each reference to "medical marijuana" in divisions (A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(5), (B) and (C) now reads "marijuana." Second, division (B) now adds that a person discharged because of marijuana use in violation of an employer's policy "shall be ineligible to serve a waiting period or to be paid benefits for the duration of the individual's unemployment as described in division (D)(2) of that section." Divisions (A)(3), (A)(4) and (A)(6) were not changed.

What R.C. 3796.28 Provides

Division (A) of § 3796.28 states that nothing in the chapter does any of the following:

1. "Requires an employer to permit or accommodate an employee's use, possession, or distribution of marijuana";
2. Prohibits an employer from refusing to hire, discharging, disciplining or otherwise taking an adverse employment action against a person "because of that person's use, possession, or distribution of 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 federal restrictions on employment, "including the regulations adopted by the United States department of transportation in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations";
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 "related to marijuana"; or
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 under rules adopted under R.C. Chapter 4123.

Unemployment Benefits and Civil Rights Provisions

Under division (B), a person discharged because of the person's use of marijuana "shall be considered to have been discharged for just cause" for purposes of R.C. 4141.29(D), and is ineligible to serve a waiting period or be paid unemployment benefits for the duration of the unemployment, if the use violated an employer's drug-free workplace policy, zero-tolerance policy or other formal program or policy regulating marijuana use.

Division (C) states that it is not a violation of divisions (A), (D) or (E) of R.C. 4112.02, Ohio's unlawful discriminatory practices statute, if an employer discharges, refuses to hire or otherwise discriminates against a person because of the person's use of marijuana in violation of the employer's drug-free workplace policy, zero-tolerance policy or other formal program or policy regulating marijuana use.