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Although both medicinal and now recreational consumption of marijuana have been legalized in California, this legalization did not impact an employer’s right to discipline or even terminate employees for marijuana use. That could change for medical marijuana users if a bill pending before the California legislature becomes law.  To read the rest of this article,…

An employer that refused to hire an applicant based on a positive pre-employment drug test was entitled to summary judgment on the applicant’s race discrimination and civil conspiracy claims despite the applicant’s argument that the company safety officer cancelled his split specimen drug test due to discriminatory animus, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals…

Ohio’s new medical marijuana law becomes effective on September 6, 2016, although it may take up to two years for implementing regulations to be written and for dispensaries and the patient registry to become operational. House Bill 523, the “Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program,” allows people with certain medical conditions, upon the recommendation of a…

The Montana Supreme Court has upheld against a state constitutional challenge the State’s 2011 Montana Marijuana Act, a new statutory framework embodying the State’s effort to limit abuses resulting from the 2004 Medical Marijuana Act, which was established by voter initiation. Montana Cannabis Industry Ass’n v. The State of Montana, 2016 Mont. LEXIS 168 (Feb.…

Employees subject to U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) drug and alcohol testing regulations may have limited privacy interests in their positive drug and alcohol test results of their positive drug and alcohol tests, according to a recent decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. McTimmonds v. Alcohol and Drug…

Election Day 2014 saw Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia pass laws legalizing recreational marijuana.  Almost half the states in this country have laws permitting medical marijuana.  As state and local marijuana laws continue to proliferate, join us for an informative and timely 60-minute webinar addressing critical questions for employers, including:

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This November, voters in California will decide whether to mandate drug and alcohol testing for doctors in the Golden State.

Proposition 46 – formally known as “Drug And Alcohol Testing Of Doctors.  Medical Negligence Lawsuits.  Initiative Statute.” – will appear on the ballot in California’s upcoming elections.  If passed, hospitals operating in the State will…

May unemployment benefits be denied where an employee authorized to use medical marijuana under state law tests positive for the drug on a workplace substance abuse test, is fired under the employer’s zero tolerance policy, and seeks unemployment compensation?   

Michigan’s state Court of Appeals is being asked to provide an answer. 

Rick Braska, a fork-lift …

AN ASSORTMENT OF MARIJUANA AND OTHER DRUG ABUSE HAPPENINGS…. HEROIN USE IS SURGING as governmental efforts mount to halt prescription drug abuse, UPI reports.  With prescription opioids and other drugs getting harder to obtain, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine says heroin use has risen nearly100 percent in the past decade.  …

Commercial laboratories owe a duty of care to drug testing subjects and the failure to follow established procedures may be a violation of that duty in certain circumstances, according to a recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Rodriguez v. Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, d/b/a LabCorp, 2014…