Source: https://www.huntonlaborblog.com/2015/01/articles/criminal-background-checks/antidiscrimination-provisions-in-state-medical-marijuana-laws-raise-additional-considerations-for-workplace-drug-testing/
Timestamp: 2019-09-21 06:42:28
Document Index: 566284416

Matched Legal Cases: ['§36', '§ 21', '§ 4905', '§2423', '§152', '§ 453', '§ 3369', '§ 453', '§ 24']

Anti-Discrimination Provisions in State Medical Marijuana Laws Raise Additional Considerations for Workplace Drug Testing | Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives
Home Anti-Discrimination Provisions in State Medical Marijuana Laws Raise Additional Considerations for Workplace Drug Testing
By Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP on January 22, 2015
The medical marijuana laws of the following eight states contain anti-discrimination or reasonable accommodation provisions addressed to employers: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New York and Minnesota. Three of those eight laws (Arizona, Delaware and Minnesota) address workplace drug testing. Although none of these laws requires employers to tolerate on-duty drug use, nor do they prohibit workplace drug testing, some anti-discrimination provisions raise questions about the validity of adverse employment actions based on positive drug tests.
The anti-discrimination provisions have in common a prohibition against taking adverse employment actions against employees solely on the basis of their participation in the state’s medical marijuana program, unless doing so would violate federal law or regulations, or cause an employer to lose a monetary or licensing-related benefit under federal law or regulations. This straightforward language prohibits status-based discrimination, and does not appear to preclude adverse action based on drug test results. (Ariz. Rev. Stat. §36-2813(B); Ct. Gen. Stat. 420f § 21a-408p(b)(3); 16 Del. Code § 4905A(a)(3)(a); 410 ILRC 30/40(a)(1); M.R.S Title 22 §2423-E(2); Minn. Stat. §152.32(3)(c); Nev. Rev. Stat. § 453A.800 (2).)
B. Disability Accommodation
Yet another consideration involves the accommodation of disabilities. A “certified patient” under New York’s medical marijuana law is deemed to have a disability, as defined by the New York Human Rights and Civil Rights Laws, and employers must reasonably accommodate the underlying disability associated with the legal marijuana use. New York Health Law, Title V-A, § 3369(2). Nevada requires employers to reasonably accommodate the medical needs of an employee who uses medical marijuana, provided that such accommodation would not pose a threat of harm or danger to persons or property, impose an undue hardship on the employer, or prohibit the employee from fulfilling his or her job responsibilities. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 453A.800(3).
C. Recreational Marijuana Use
Finally, employers should be aware of separate statutes that may enhance the protections of recreational use of marijuana by employees, such as the Colorado Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-34-402.5. That law prohibits employers from terminating employment on the basis of a person’s lawful activity outside the workplace during nonworking hours. Because recreational marijuana use is legal in Colorado, a positive result on a workplace drug test in that state would not be grounds for termination if the results suggested that the employee’s medical or recreational use of marijuana took place outside of work. The scope of the Lawful Activities Statute currently is under review by the Colorado Supreme Court in a case involving a quadriplegic employee who used medical cannabis to control muscle spasms and was discharged after a positive drug test. Coats v. Dish Network LLC, Court of Appeals Case Nos. 12CA595 & 12CA1704.
Tags: Accommodation, Disability, Disability Discrimination, Discrimination, Drug Testing, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, Reasonable Accommodation