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Laws Proposed To Protect Marijuana Users At Work

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
07/19/2019
Medical/Legal Marijuana, State Law
I’ve bloggedin the past about ways in which Maryland’s medical cannabis law is unclear or leaves questions unanswered when it comes to employee rights under that law.  So I thought it apropos to blog here about two bills (SB863 and SB864) introduced earlier this year that aim to clarify some of the questions and expand the protections of workers who use marijuana. Screening for Use of Marijuana or Cannabis (SB863) This law seeks to...
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Montana Worker’s Wrongful Discharge Claim Goes Up In Smoke

Garrett Wozniak
Garrett Wozniak
11/28/2018
Medical/Legal Marijuana
In 2010, an employee for Charter Communications, LLC was approved for a medical marijuana card (under Montana state law) to treat low back and stomach pain.  He could use the medical marijuana when he was not working, operating heavy equipment, or driving.  In January 2016, the employee hit a pole while working and driving a Charter-owned vehicle.  He tested positive for THC following two post-accident urinalysis tests.  Charter terminated the...
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Age and Wage Issues Among Many Resolved On Election Day

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/07/2018
Age Discrimination, Gender Identity, Legislative Developments, Medical/Legal Marijuana, State Law, Wage & Hour
As votes in yesterday’s elections continue to be tallied, there were several developments of interest to employers and to labor and employment practitioners alike. Age: The ADEA Applies To Public Sector Employers Of All Sizes First, yesterday morning, the Supreme Court announced its first decision of the 2018-19 term.  In a unanimous (8-0) ruling, the Court held in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act...
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Marijuana Law Does Not Compel Employer To Waive Its Drug-Testing Policy

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
10/24/2018
Medical/Legal Marijuana
Last year, I blogged about Maryland’s medical marijuana law and its potential implications on drug-free workplaces and drug testing policies.  Although Maryland courts (still) have not addressed the questions in the employment law context, courts in other jurisdictions with medical marijuana statutes have issued rulings that could provide insight on some of the issues.  Recently, a federal district court in New Jersey did just this in...
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New Mexico State Courts Should Decide How To Interpret State Employment and Marijuana Laws

Clifford Geiger
Clifford Geiger
08/10/2015
Medical/Legal Marijuana
Augustine Stanley filed a lawsuit in New Mexico state court alleging that his employer discriminated against him when it fired him as a detention officer because of his state-authorized used of medical marijuana.  Stanley’s original complaint, based only on state law, alleged that the New Mexico Human Rights Act required his employer to accommodate his medical marijuana use.  Medical marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which the U.S....
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Drug-Free Workplaces In The Era Of Medical And/or Legal Marijuana Use

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/04/2014
Employment Discrimination, Legislative Developments, Medical/Legal Marijuana
An employee with terminal illness or severe pain obtains medical marijuana from a licensed dispensary.  His or her employer, however, maintains a drug-free workplace policy that provides for employee drug testing. What can an employer do under these circumstances?  This post is designed to provide a basic snapshot of the current state of the law, and the prominent issues that employers face.  As detailed below, employers are generally blanketed...
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