On March 31, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act legalizing the recreational use of marijuana products by adults.
Even states that have authorized the use of marijuana for adult recreational or medicinal purposes allow employers to prohibit the use and possession of marijuana and marijuana products at work.
The New Jersey Legislature on December 17, 2020 passed legislation removing marijuana as a Schedule I drug and legalizing personal use of cannabis for adults over the age of 21.
Arizona 2020 voters decidedly adopted Proposition 207 – The Smart and Safe Arizona Act – which legalizes the possession and use of marijuana by adults age 21 and over for recreational or non-medicinal use.
NJ Public Question 1 on this year’s election ballot sought voters’ approval for a constitutional amendment to legalize the possession and use of marijuana for individuals age 21 and older, as well as the cultivation, processing and sale of marijuana.
In almost every U.S. jurisdiction an employer can ask workers who appear to be impaired or otherwise in violation of the employer’s drug and alcohol testing policy to submit to a reasonable suspicion drug test.
The Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador recently overturned the decision of the province’s Supreme Court, which addressed an employer’s obligation to accommodate medical cannabis use for workers in safety-sensitive positions.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently affirmed a trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging a violation of the drug testing statute brought against an employer that terminated an employee for refusing to submit to a reasonable grounds drug test.
Each year, Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute provides its “July is the New January” report on labor and employment laws that become effective in the middle of the year.
