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Since 2014, Minnesota has provided applicants and employees with protections if they lawfully use cannabis for medicinal purposes. Starting August 1, 2023, Minnesota will provide protections to individuals who use cannabis for recreational purposes, after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed a state law allowing adults 21 and older to use recreational cannabis. The new law amends the state’s Consumable Products Act to protect off-duty cannabis use. The law also amends Minnesota’s Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (DATWA) by excluding cannabis from the definition of “drug” and by creating two different workplace drug testing schemes based on whether positions are exempt from the cannabis testing prohibitions. Continue Reading Minnesota’s New Recreational Cannabis Law Results in First-Of-Its-Kind Drug Testing Scheme

On May 25, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted an employer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action in Zanetich v. Wal-Mart Stores E., Inc.  Addressing an issue of first impression, the Court held that job applicants do not have a private right of action under the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (the “CREAMMA”), the state’s recreational marijuana law.  The Court also held that there is no common law claim for wrongful failure to hire in violation of public policy in New Jersey. Continue Reading Failure to Hire Claims Go Up In Smoke for Pot-Using New Jersey Job Applicant

On September 18, 2022, California amended its primary employment discrimination law to specifically regulate the drug testing methodologies that employers may use when making hiring, termination, and other employment decisions relating to cannabis users. More recently, on May 9, 2023, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed similar legislation relating to initial hiring decisions. Both laws, which will be effective January 1, 2024, are the first of their kind because they require employers to have a basic understanding of a somewhat complicated issue – the science behind cannabis testing.Continue Reading Clearing the Haze: The Method and the Madness Behind the New Cannabis Laws in California and Washington

On January 14, 2022, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire reversed a trial court decision that dismissed a former employee’s complaint alleging his employer failed to consider whether it could reasonably accommodate his use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. New Hampshire joins a growing number of other jurisdictions that have found an employer might have to consider medical marijuana use…

Continue Reading Supreme Court of New Hampshire Weighs in On Reasonable Accommodations for Medical Marijuana Users

As previously reported here, on February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed A21, the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (CREAMMA), which is enabling legislation for the amendment to the New Jersey Constitution making lawful the recreational use of marijuana in the state.

While the new law, among other things, allows employers to…
Continue Reading New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s “Personal Use Cannabis Rules” Do Not Provide Guidance About Employer Drug Testing Practices

New Jersey recently enacted a law permitting personal, nonmedical use of marijuana for individuals age 21 and over. Separate laws decriminalize marijuana and hashish possession and set out the penalties when individuals under age 21 use or possess marijuana or hashish. Although not immediately enforceable, New Jersey employers should immediately assess the implications of the laws on their current policies

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Continue Reading New Jersey Recreational Marijuana Law Provides Significant Employment Protections to Marijuana Users

As you might recall from our previous post, The 10th Circuit Grants Re-leaf to Workers Seeking Overtime Under the FLSA, the 10th Circuit held that cannabis employers are not immune from federal overtime laws even though the cannabis sector is illegal under federal law.

The employer in Robert Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc., sought to clear the haze…
Continue Reading The ‘High’ Court Denies Review of Federal Overtime Case Involving Cannabis Employees

On May 29, 2020, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of an employee’s lawsuit against his former employer after it terminated him for refusing to submit to a reasonable suspicion drug test, even though his “bizarre” behavior could have been attributed to other causes. As employers are becoming increasingly concerned about marijuana use in states with recreational or medical…
Continue Reading Rhode Island Court Upholds Termination of Medical Marijuana User for Refusing a Reasonable Suspicion Drug Test

On January 17, 2020, Hawaii Senators Rosalyn Baker (D) and Brian Taniguchi (D) introduced Senate Bill 2543, which proposes to provide employment protections to job applicants and employees who use medical cannabis. If enacted, Hawaii would join the growing number of states to pass similar laws.

Specifically, the most recent version of the bill provides that unless a failure…
Continue Reading Hawaii Legislature Considers Bill Providing Employment Protections to Medical Cannabis Users

Marijuana (cannabis) remains a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act. And, more than a decade ago, the California Supreme Court held in Ross v. RagingWire Telecomm., Inc., that employers have the right to reject an applicant who tests positive for medical cannabis. Since that time, California employers have enjoyed some comfort in the ability…
Continue Reading California Assembly (Again) Considers Bill Requiring Employers to Accommodate Medical Cannabis Use