The city council in Washington, D.C. unanimously passed a bill Tuesday that, if approved by Mayor Muriel Bowser, would stop employers from firing employees who fail marijuana drug tests.
The bill, named the Cannabis Employment Protections Amendment Act of 2022, would also ban employers from firing or refusing to hire an employee because of their recreational or medical marijuana use.
There are exceptions, though.
Employers won’t be considered in violation of the legislation if they are acting under federal guidelines, or if an employee consumed marijuana at work or while performing work-related duties.
The bill also prohibits the “possession, storage, delivery, transfer, display, transportation, sale, purchase, or growing of cannabis at the employee’s place of employment,” it says.
Employers must evaluate “medical marijuana to treat a disability in the same manner as it would treat the legal use of a controlled substance prescribed by or taken under the supervision of a licensed health care professional,” the bill says.
The bill does not cover people working in “safety-sensitive” occupations, such as police, security guards, construction workers, those who operate heavy machinery, health care workers, caretakers, or gas and power company employees. [Read more at NPR]
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