With legalization on the rise, employers are faced with a type of gray area when it comes to the state and federal marijuana laws and workplace drug testing.
Companies who are looking to keep a drug-free workplace are left wondering if they are allowed to fire or discipline workers for their weed use.
Voters decided to either legalize recreational marijuana or allow/expand their current medicinal marijuana laws in 8 different states. These new laws have made weed legal in some form or another in over half of the country, but yet it’s still illegal federally.
In states like California and Massachusetts, employers should be careful when testing their employees for weed. Firing or disciplining employees for their legalized use could potentially open legal challenges. If workers are not in a safety-sensitive job role, then they should not be tested.
But hey! With the push for legalizing marijuana on the rise, we could be seeing Pot Fridays in the workplace real soon.
