In March 2021, the New York State Legislature passed, and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo signed, the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA or the Act). In addition to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in New York, the Act amends both the New York medical marijuana law and the New York Labor Law. These amendments significantly impact an employer’s rights and obligations vis-à-vis their employees’ use of marijuana.
Broadly, the MRTA legalizes adult-use, i.e., recreational use, cannabis in New York State and establishes an Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) governed by the Cannabis Control Board. As it relates to employers, the Act makes changes to the Labor Law and generally prohibits adverse actions against employees who engage in off-site, recreational cannabis use. As affirmed by the OCM, “the law is not intended to limit the authority of an employer to establish policies and procedures prohibiting employees from being impaired by cannabis in the workplace, and employers are not required to engage in any conduct that would otherwise violate federal law or cause the employer to lose federal funding.” However, in practice, the law (1) effectively requires employers to engage in a wholesale reassessment of their current policies around use and testing, (2) codifies certain judicial holdings around medical use and (3) folds New York’s medical use law, the Compassionate Care Act, into the auspices of the OCM.
Employees who are in the Medical...
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