Articles Posted in Drug Testing

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Tomorrow, I’ll be presenting “Weeding through the Haze: State and Federal Marijuana Laws and Implications” at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s 2023 EXCEL Training Conference in Washington, DC.

Between now and then, I’ll need to update my slide deck. Continue reading

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The Americans with Disabilities Act does not protect employee use of illegal drugs. It does not prevent employers from testing applicants or employees for current illegal drug use or making employment decisions based on verifiable results. However, the ADA would protect an employee with a disability who fails a drug test if the employer bases its termination decision on the underlying disability rather than the test result.

But here’s the thing. Continue reading

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The EEOC has guided employers to accommodate employee use of certain prescribed medications, and excuse failed drug tests that reflect the presence of those drugs — if it is done safely — because those individuals who test positive likely have an underlying disability.

But, when employee self-medicate — like with CBDs for stress and anxiety — not only is there no duty to accommodate, the employee may not be able to establish an underlying disability. Continue reading

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On Monday, I blogged here about an employee using CBD for her migraines who accused her employer of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. It fired her after she tested positive for marijuana on a drug test at work. One of my takeaways from the post was that particular state and local laws may raise the bar for terminating someone who uses medical or recreational marijuana outside of work.

Well, I’m going to assume that the City Council of Washington, D.C. read my blog and was helping me prove my point. Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
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