On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, Governor Inslee signed into law Senate Bill No. 5123, which will protect prospective employees from discrimination in hiring due to their lawful, off-duty use of marijuana. With this law, Washington will join the growing list of states offering some workplace protections to workers who engage in “off-duty” marijuana use. The new law is not a “go-ahead” for all Washington employees to engage in recreational marijuana use without employment consequences, however. Governor Inslee has emphasized the law does not protect all such use and does not prevent employers from establishing policies regarding a drug-free workplace. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2024.

The new law prohibits employers from “discriminating” against a person in hiring based on the person’s lawful use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace. Specifically, employers will be unable to rely upon pre-employment drug tests that screen for the presence of “non-psychoactive” cannabis metabolites to make hiring decisions. Washington has long been a state where marijuana use, in various forms, is lawful – the state has permitted medicinal use since 1998 and recreational use since 2012.¹

The law’s stated purpose is to bring marijuana as a substance on the same footing as alcohol for consideration in pre-employment testing, stating:

Applicants are much less likely to test positive or be disqualified for the presence of alcohol on a preemployment screening test compared...

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