Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed an executive order Nov. 15 protecting residents in the state from prosecution for medical marijuana use. The executive order is meant to protect residents who legally purchase medical marijuana in another state to treat chronic pain from various medical conditions or post-traumatic stress disorder. State won’t legalize despite residents’ desires […]
With President Biden’s Oct. 6 statements about marijuana and his request to review whether the drug should be removed from the Schedule I list of controlled substances, is federal legalization far off? If federal legalization of marijuana is in the cards for the near future, then what does it mean for employers? After all, many […]
New Jersey and California are currently in the spotlight for their respective methods of protecting employees who use recreational marijuana. Employers in New Jersey are getting some interim guidance on protections from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission while California employers will have to deal with a new law that will protect recreational cannabis users. Guidance […]
The California State Compensation Fund (State Fund), the state’s main provider of workers’ compensation insurance, reports that it has seen a significant decrease in opioid use by injured workers since 2014. State Fund said its efforts have reduced the number of opioid prescriptions for injured workers it provides care for by 82% between 2014 and […]
An injured worker who was fired after a positive marijuana drug test can’t move forward with a wrongful termination suit since the drug is still illegal under federal law, according to the Nevada Supreme Court. Although marijuana use is legal in the state, the court found it is still illegal under federal law so there’s […]
A new report from the National Safety Council reveals that a majority of employers are interested in using impairment detection technology (IDT) to screen for multiple forms of impairment in the workplace. IDT is technology with the potential to screen for multiple forms of impairment – including from chemical substances, stress, fatigue and mental distress […]
The New York City Fire Department is going to stop marijuana testing for its firefighters and applicants. On July 14, the department issued a memo stating the decision to stop testing is in conjunction with the city’s Law Department issuing “guidance that prohibits adverse employment actions based on off-hours marijuana usage,” according to law firm […]
Rhode Island has joined the growing list of states legalizing recreational marijuana and while employers aren’t required to accommodate use of the drug at work they’re prohibited from taking adverse action for off-duty use. Governor Dan McKee signed a bill making recreational marijuana use legal in the state on May 25, with the new law […]
Marijuana legalization, medical and otherwise, is a tricky area for employers in the U.S., filled with ambiguities from state to state and even on the federal level. That’s also true for legal products derived from cannabis. A May 13 court decision involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employee taking a legal cannabis product […]
