Third Circuit Rules New Jersey Marijuana Law Lacks Private Right of Action to Enforce Employment Protections

A federal appellate court has ruled that a New Jersey law regulating recreational marijuana use does not grant job applicants the right to sue employers that rescind job offers after positive pre-employment drug tests for marijuana. The court found that the law does not provide a private right of action to enforce its employment protections. […]
Nebraska Says Yes to Marijuana Measure, but Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota Just Say No

Efforts to legalize marijuana failed in three states and succeeded in one state on November 5, 2024. Quick Hits On November 5, 2024, voters in Nebraska approved a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana use, while voters in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota rejected measures to legalize recreational marijuana use. Voters in Massachusetts rejected […]
DOJ Plans to Reclassify Marijuana From Schedule I to Lower-Risk Schedule III Drug

On April 30, 2024, following a months-long process, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance. This historic move—likely the most substantial change to federal drug policy in more than fifty years—would place marijuana amongst the likes of acetaminophen with codeine, […]
Weed at Work: Can Georgia Employers Still Drug Test?

Across the United States, a broad legal spectrum has developed regarding the use of marijuana, thus creating great uncertainty among employers that have long striven to maintain drug-free workplaces. Federally, marijuana still is classified as a prohibited Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act. In recent years, many states have decriminalized marijuana, some limiting […]
Medical Marijuana Usage Is Not Protected Under the ADA, Vermont Federal Court Rules

On February 14, 2024, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont dismissed a plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) discrimination and failure-to-accommodate case, holding that his medical marijuana usage was not protected under the ADA (Skoric v. Marble Valley Regional Transit District). Quick Hits A federal district judge in Vermont […]
Ohio Becomes 24th State to Legalize Recreational Use of Marijuana: 7 Key Considerations for Employers

On November 7, 2023, Ohio voters made Ohio the twenty-fourth state in the United States to legalize the recreational possession and use of marijuana. Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) Section 3780, which is subject to amendment by the Ohio General Assembly, will go into effect on December 7, 2023, but it will take months to establish […]
Stocking Naloxone in the Workplace: What Employers Need to Consider

It is well known that opioid overdoses have occurred at epidemic levels in the United States for years. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), opioid overdose deaths have increased from 21,089 in 2010, to 47,600 in 2017, to more than 80,000 in 2021 and 2022. As the number of deaths has […]
California Expands Marijuana Employment Antidiscrimination Law

On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) No. 700 into law, expanding California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to protect applicants from discrimination based on prior cannabis use, with certain exceptions. The amendment takes effect on January 1, 2024. Quick Hits SB 700 amends California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit […]
Right-to-Weed States: Assessing Impairment and Managing Employee Conduct in the Workplace

On May 9, 2023, the Washington state governor signed a law that will make it unlawful for employers to discriminate against hiring a person based on their marijuana usage, making Washington the latest state to become a right-to-weed state. With medical and recreational marijuana legalization spreading, a growing number of states are further implementing protections for […]
Majority of States Have Legalized Marijuana, but OSHA’s Post-Incident Drug-Testing Guidance Hasn’t Changed

As of May 1, 2023, marijuana had been legalized for medicinal or recreational use, or both, in thirty-eight states. Some 35–55 million Americans report using marijuana two or more times per month. According to published reports, drug tests administered by one large national testing laboratory returned the highest rate of marijuana positive tests since 1997. […]
New Washington State Law Will Protect Job Applicants From Discrimination Based on Off-Duty Marijuana Use

Employers in Washington will soon be prohibited from making hiring decisions based on preemployment testing for off-the-job cannabis use or test results showing nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites in an applicant’s hair, blood, urine, or other bodily fluids. Washington’s new law, Senate Bill 5123, signed by Governor Jay Inslee on May 9, 2023, takes effect on January […]
Medical Marijuana in Your Suitcase? How One Basketball Player’s Conviction Raises Concerns for Employers

On October 25, 2022, U.S. professional basketball player Brittney Griner lost her bid in a Russian appeals court to overturn a nine-year sentence for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into Russia. According to reports, Griner, a Women’s National Basketball Association star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested at a Russian airport in February 2022 […]