By Jennifer L. Mora and Adam R. Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers considering a tolerant attitude towards recreational cannabis in the workplace should consider safety hazards and legal liabilities.
In the heyday of the two-martini lunch, employers regularly tolerated alcohol in the workplace or employees presumably impaired by alcohol returning to work. Over the succeeding
By Anthony Califano, Jennifer Mora, and Frederick T. Smith
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers are grappling with the wave of marijuana laws sweeping the nation, some of which provide very employee-friendly protections. While no state requires an employer to tolerate employees’ use of marijuana or impairment while they are working, present drug testing methodologies
By James L. Curtis and Adam R. Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: The National Safety Council released a policy statement endorsing employer zero-tolerance policies for cannabis use for employees who work in safety-sensitive positions, explaining that no level of cannabis is safe.
Unlike a test for Blood Alcohol Content, testing results for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) metabolites
By Mark A. Lies, II, Brent I. Clark, Adam R. Young, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA has just issued a Standard Interpretation clarifying the Obama-era guidance that prohibited incentive programs and circumscribed post-incident drug testing; “Clarification of OSHA’s Position on Workplace Safety Incentive Programs and Post-Incident Drug Testing Under
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled lawsuits with two employers it claims violated the Americans with Disabilities Act after rejecting a job applicant and terminating an employee based on their prescription drug use.
The opioid crisis is dominating the news. And, employers have reason to be concerned.
By Anthony Califano & Timothy Buckley
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recently-filed lawsuit in the federal district court in Arizona alleges that an employee’s use of medical marijuana may be permissible under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Although the employee faces an uphill battle, the case presents a challenge to the commonly-held view that
By Anthony Califano, Ariel D. Cudkowicz, John Ayers-Mann, and Frederick T. Smith
Seyfarth Synopsis: On May 23, 2017, in Callaghan v. Darlington Fabrics Co., a Rhode Island Superior Court issued a unique decision regarding employer obligations to medical marijuana users.
The Judge who penned the decision began his analysis by
By Caitlyn Crisp and Michael Cross
Seyfarth Synopsis: California voters gave the green light to recreational use of marijuana with the passage of Prop 64. Marijuana users may have felt like they struck Acapulco Gold, but a review of the law on drug testing in the workplace may turn out to be a buzzkill.