Governor Newsom signed a new law this week restricting employers from asking about marijuana use and conducting certain drug tests for applicants and employees. This Friday’s Five covers what the new law means for employers in the context of existing law governing employer’s ability to ask, test, and regulate employee’s use of marijuana in the workplace:
1. SB 700 – Prohibition on discrimination based on cannabis use
SB 700, signed by Governor Newsom on October 7, 2023, prohibits employers from asking applicants and employees about prior use of marijuana or implementing drug tests for marijuana in certain circumstances. The new law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2024, specifies that an employer is prohibited “from discriminating in hiring, or any term or condition of employment, or otherwise penalize a person based on scientifically valid preemployment drug screening conducted through methods that do not screen for nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites.” The legislature stated that there are alternative tests that are permissible, such as “impairment tests, which measure an individual employee against their own baseline performance and tests that identify the presence of THC in an individual’s bodily fluids.”
Employers are also prohibited from using information regarding an applicant’s or employee’s prior cannabis use derived from a criminal background check, unless this is otherwise permitted under the State’s Fair Chance Law, other state laws, or other federal...
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