Courts have historically found marijuana-positive drug tests sufficient grounds to terminate an employee or refuse to hire someone. Employers were safe to move forward without worrying about whether the individual was approved to use medical marijuana or if an employee was actually impaired while at work.
Now, however, many states and local jurisdictions are enacting or considering anti-discrimination laws that prohibit employers taking adverse action against employees for failing a drug test, even if the employer has a zero-tolerance policy in place.
In a number of states, medical marijuana statutes laws protect employees whose pot use is legal, does not take place at work, and doesn’t impair their ability to do their job safely and effectively.
And more courts are following that trend when ruling on employee-drug-test-driven employment actions. That is having a real impact on employers’ drug testing policies.