BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Starting Thursday, you can legally smoke marijuana in Ohio, but you could also risk not getting a job or losing the one you already have.
Employers have rights, too, when it comes to the state’s new recreational marijuana law that includes the right to drug test and even fire you.
People who train automotive technicians say it’s a job that requires a clear mind.
You could get hurt or be liable for someone else’s injuries.
Salem Grose has wheels in motion to become an automotive technician.
“If anything I might go to college for engineering and start making vehicles but for now this is what I want to do,” Salem Grose said.
Grose is one of a dozen students set to graduate in February from the Matrix Trade Institute in Beachwood.
Salem cares more about a career than indulging in marijuana.
“I definitely think in this industry it is very important to be sober just cause there’s lots of things that could go wrong,” Grose said.
Ohioans will be able to buy and grow specific amounts of weed under the new recreational marijuana law. But employers have rights, too.
“They are perfectly within their right to still have drug-free workplace policy to not want people to come into work if they are high or have used drugs,” said Case Western Reserve University Law Professor Sharona Hoffman.
Under the law, employers can enforce drug testing, refuse to hire you, or fire you for cause if your cannabis use violates its drug-free or zero-tolerance policies.
“Different industries are also regulated by federal law and federal law always pre-emps state law,” Professor Hoffman.
Professor Hoffman says employers should be aggressive in clarifying the rules.
“Employers have the right to regulate the workplace to decide what is safe and what isn’t safe for particular jobs and ignorance is not going to be a defense for workers,”
Matrix Trade Campus Director Greg Kozarik says they spell out their no-drug policy.
“It can not happen while they’re here in school and it’s going to be the same way for the rest of their careers in this industry,” Kozarik said.
Students there simulate working in a shop.
“They’re working on brakes taking off the tires,” Kozarik said.
Kozarik says the risk level is too high both there and on the job.
“You can easily injure yourself you can easily kill yourself or somebody else for example you don’t tighten down lugnuts and a tire shoots off after a customer leaves you’re responsible for that,” Kozarik said.
He says right now, there are more jobs in this industry than students.
“Because of the need and demand for technicians, there are some dealerships that have gone away from drug testing but for the most part the majority of the dealerships we deal with are still going to stay with it because they’ve got to understand it’s a safety issue,” Kozarik said.
Salem says it’s important to stay clear-minded to make money with a good name.
“Everybody’s connected in this industry so if you have a bad reputation everyone’s going to know,” said Grose.
This was a ballot initiative and not a constitutional amendment, meaning lawmakers can make adjustments.
