Ohio Drug Testing Laws for Employers

What Ohio Does Not Regulate

There is no Ohio testing procedure statute. Nothing in the Revised Code sets collection standards, laboratory requirements, confirmation rules, cutoff levels, result notification or retesting rights for private employers, and nothing limits when or why you may test. Random testing is unrestricted; ORC 3796.28(A)(3) confirms the marijuana chapter does not stop an employer establishing and enforcing a drug testing policy, drug-free workplace policy or zero-tolerance policy.

Two Bonuses Most Employers Do Not Know They Have

ORC 3796.28 goes beyond simply preserving employer authority. It hands employers two concrete advantages, and both are conditioned on having a policy:

• Unemployment. Under subsection (B), a person discharged for marijuana use in violation of the employer's drug-free workplace, zero-tolerance or other formal written policy is deemed discharged for just cause under ORC 4141.29(D), which disqualifies them from unemployment benefits.
• State discrimination law. Under subsection (C), such a discharge or refusal to hire is not a violation of ORC 4112.02(A), (D) or (E).

Both protections are framed around use that violated a written policy. An Ohio employer with no policy has neither of them.

The Posting Requirement Behind the Intoxication Presumption

ORC 4123.54 gives employers a rebuttable presumption of intoxication and proximate cause where a qualifying chemical test shows prohibited levels or the employee refuses a requested test. Two conditions gate it, and the second is the one that gets missed:

1. The test must either follow the employer's reasonable cause to suspect intoxication, or have been requested by a police officer or licensed medical professional.
2. The employer must have posted written notice to employees that test results, or a refusal to submit, may affect eligibility for compensation. The statute specifies the notice be at least the same size as the proof of workers' compensation coverage and posted in the same location.

No posting, no presumption. It is a fifteen-minute job that determines whether the statute helps you in a contested claim.

The SUPR Program, and Its Trade-Off

The Bureau of Workers' Compensation still runs a voluntary program, but since July 1, 2025 it is structured as a bonus and grant program rather than a prospective premium discount. The basic level requires annual application and six elements: supervisor accident-analysis training with online reporting for lost-time claims, a written drug-free workplace policy, annual employee education, annual supervisor skill-building training, testing conforming to the federal HHS testing model and covering pre-employment and new hire, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, and return-to-duty and follow-up, plus an employee assistance plan.

The advanced level pays more and asks more. It adds random testing of 15 percent or more of the workforce each program period, a policy that spells out how random testing will be implemented, a designated substance use professional whose assessment costs the employer pays, and a commitment not to terminate an employee on a first positive result, voluntary disclosure or supervisor referral.

That last condition is the real decision. For a zero-tolerance employer, the advanced bonus is bought with a genuine constraint on how the first positive is handled. Eligibility also requires being current on bureau payments, no more than 40 cumulative days of coverage lapse in the preceding twelve months, active policy status, and reported actual payroll; state agencies and self-insuring employers under ORC 4123.35 are not eligible.

What to Do This Quarter

1. Check your citations. If anything in your Ohio materials references ORC 3780.35, it needs updating to ORC 3796.28.
2. Confirm the ORC 4123.54 notice is posted in the right place and the right size.
3. Make sure you have a written policy, since both of the ORC 3796.28 bonuses depend on one.
4. Decide on SUPR deliberately, with the no-first-termination condition on the table rather than discovered later.

Who This Affects Most

Ohio's employment base runs through healthcare and social assistance, manufacturing including motor vehicles, steel, plastics and rubber, trade and transportation and warehousing, professional and business services, finance and insurance, agriculture and food processing, and construction. Distribution and manufacturing employers with large hourly populations are the ones for whom the unemployment and workers' compensation provisions carry the most money.