Zero-tolerance drug policies in the workplace are an endangered species. Traditional drug laws and policies as they relate to the workplace are being upended, and employers are increasingly struggling to grapple with the patchwork of state drug-testing laws – that oftentimes conflict with federal law – as well as the proliferation of legal THC-containing products derived from hemp.
Continue Reading The End of Zero-Tolerance Drug Policies
Federally legal CBD products may, under some circumstances, cause consumers to fail drug tests. An employer’s right to terminate employee-consumers on that basis is not prohibited by federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Many of us are familiar with CBD products. In some states, they can be found
Continue Reading CBD & The Workplace, A Word to The Wise
While States Continue to Regulate Employers’ Right to Refuse to Hire, Discipline, or Terminate Employees Based on Their On- and Off-Duty Marijuana Use, Some Legal Tools Remain for Maintaining Drug-Free Employees and Workplaces.
Continue Reading Use of Cannabis by Workers in Safety-Sensitive Positions
Recently an individual employed by Trulieve Inc., who was responsible for grinding and handling cannabis at Trulieve’s cultivation site in Massachusetts, died due to asthma-related complications following exposure to “occupational quantities of whole and ground cannabis,” according to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hazard letter issued in June 2022. Under a settlement agreement with OSHA, Trulieve agreed to study the potential hazards of ground marijuana dust.
Continue Reading Employers Subject to Workplace Safety Laws Despite Marijuana’s Illegal Status
With an increasing number of states passing laws to protect employees who utilize marijuana off-duty, employers throughout the country are presently tasked with redesigning their marijuana-related policies and practices to avoid the risk of suffering discrimination, retaliation, and other claims for wrongfully taking adverse action against an employee for their marijuana legal use.
Continue Reading Budding Workplace Marijuana Impairment Laws Put Employers in a Bind
If you work for a cannabis business, then bankruptcy relief may not be available to you, according to the In re Blumsack decision out of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Continue Reading Decision Blocks Ch. 13 Bankruptcy for Cannabis Business Employee
With an increasing number of states passing laws protecting employees who utilize marijuana, employers throughout the country are presently tasked with redesigning their marijuana-related policies and practices to avoid the (significantly increased) risk of suffering discrimination, retaliation, and other costly claims. With many relevant state laws going into effect throughout the next twelve months, the clock is ticking.
Continue Reading Employers: Clock is Ticking to Update Marijuana Policies
We often look to the federal judiciary as the gold standard of American jurisprudence. However, when it comes to the rapidly evolving cannabis industry, the federal judiciary has been anything but consistent.
Continue Reading To Put It Bluntly, the Federal Judiciary’s Inconsistent Approach to the Cannabis Industry Is (Reefer) Madness
On its face, it appears to be counterintuitive: United States federal courts recognizing and enforcing workplace rights for employees working in an illegal industry. After all, we would not expect a judge to lend a sympathetic ear to the employee of an arms trafficker or an interstate fraud ring. However
Continue Reading Federal Discrimination Statutes and the Cannabis Industry: An Illegal Industry Still Subject to Federal LawsIt may come as a shock that, in Washington State, individual owners, officers, and agents of a business can be held personally financially responsible for non- or improper payment of employee wages.
As thousands of businesses across the state prepare to re-open their doors after Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay
Continue Reading When Can You Be Held Personally Liable for Employee Wages? (The Answer May Shock You)