With more and more States allowing the use of medical marijuana employers need to revisit their employment related policies. Even though the use of marijuana is illegal under Federal law, it is legal under some State laws. In addition to the legalization of medical marijuana at the State level some States even made the recreational use of marijuana legal as well. Specifically Colorado and Washington both now allow recreational use of marijuana. However, just because a State legalizes the use of marijuana it doesn’t mean that you can’t get fired from using it. In Colorado the most marijuana friendly State in the country a man was just fired for using marijuana. According to the NY Times on June 16th, 2015 a Colorado man lost his court case of an alleged unlawful dismissal due to marijuana use during non-work hours. A random drug test led to his forfeiture of employment. Once hired for a position in a company the employee must understand an employer’s policy on drug testing.
Employers in the USA now have to cope with State laws legalizing marijuana use and urgently need to revise their employment screening policies and employment related policies in order to reflect how they deal with employee drug use specifically the use of marijuana. Some companies in marijuana friendly States may allow marijuana use during non-work hours while others may not want any employee using marijuana both at the job and away from the job. Certain jobs certainly warrant the non-use of drugs such as marijuana and these positions can only be filled by job candidates that agree not use such drugs while under employment. Depending on what the job requires it will most likely be up to the employer as to what drug behaviors are acceptable and what are not. What is clear is that potential employees and current employees must understand the employment conditions and policies of the company they want to work for or already work for.
Already with ban-the-box legislation sweeping across the country more and more employers are forced to change their hiring practices, mainly removing the criminal record checkbox on the application form and then only able to run a criminal background check after an initial offer is made. On top of this the EEOC is enforcing disparate impact by taking legal action against companies whose employment screening policies disproportionally discriminate against certain groups such as minorities. With the legalization of marijuana at the State level, the rapid adoption of the ban-the-box initiative and with the EEOC on the attack, now is the time for employers to review their employment related policies especially their employment screening policy and how they go about hiring new employees.
To learn more about the effects of the legalization of marijuana in the workplace and what employers need to do to stay legally compliant with relevant laws please read recent CriminalBackgroundRecords.com press release.