On June 7, 2022, the D.C. Council approved a bill that limits an employer’s ability to test for cannabis. Under the Cannabis Employment Protections Amendment Act, most D.C. employers may not fire, fail to hire, or take other personnel actions against an employee for using cannabis, participating in D.C.’s or another state’s medical cannabis program, or failing an employer-required or requested cannabis drug test. The bill also provides that employers must allow employees to use medicinal marijuana as a disability accommodation in most circumstances.
The new employment protection for cannabis use is subject to several exceptions. Adverse actions based on an employee’s or applicant’s cannabis usage are not prohibited where the employee’s position is designated as “safety sensitive,” the employer’s action is required by a federal statute, regulation, contract, or funding agreement, the employee engaged in cannabis-related conduct (i.e., use, possession, transfer, display, sale, growth) at the employer’s premises, while working, or during working hours, or in situations where an employee is impaired while working or during working hours. The bill defines “safety sensitive” positions as those “in which it is reasonably foreseeable that, if the employee performs the position’s routine duties or tasks while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he or she would likely cause actual, immediate, and serious bodily injury or loss of life to self or others.” These positions include...
Two Texas clinics under the same ownership have agreed to pay the government $20 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they lied about COVID-19 billing, according to the U.S.... To vi...