Marijuana in the Workplace? California Lawmaker Mark Leno Wants to Prevent Medical Pot Users From Being Fired

By Dennis Romero Mon., Jan. 31 2011 at 7:05 AM

Work and weed, together in California?

Thank God for the Golden State: It's perfectly legal to smoke the green stuff, even on a daily basis, if you have a doctor's recommendation.

But your boss might not agree that bud is the best influence for her workforce. As it stands, she can fire you for smoking medical pot (or she can decline to hire you too). But a California lawmaker wants to change that.

State Sen. Mark Leno has proposed a law ...

... that would prohibit most employers from firing you if you test positive for marijuana.

The Bay Area Democrat tried it once before. His 2007 bill was rejected by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Maybe he has a chance with Jerry Brown, although we must say that Brown has become a law-and-order guy since he spent time in the Attorney General's office.

Sen. Mark Leno says yes to marijuana for workers.

Leno's bill, according to KPCC (89.3 FM) "would exempt from protection workers such as doctors, nurses, school bus drivers and heavy equipment operators who hold so-called safety sensitive jobs."

Of course, there might be one more hurdle: Federal law, which still says employers can fire people for weed use. And weed use is still illegal on a national level. Will this trump a California law?

Stay tuned.

Tags:

labor, marijuana, Mark Leno, medical marijuana, workplace

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Ellen

I disagree. We don't penalize workers for drinking alcohol while not on the job, and arguably alcohol is more harmful than marijuana. When we're talking about medical marijuana, we're discriminating against those who choose to use a plant rather than a pharmaceutical as medicine; that just seems unfair. Lots of pot smokers contribute to our society, we're missing out if we deny them employment. For a list, see www.VeryImportantPotheads.com. And to see Sen. Leno's speech where he announced the bill and its reasoning, see http://www.canorml.org/news/Le...

Rodney

Allowing marijuana in the workplace would be too unprofessional I think. Weed is still a drug and while there are legitimate excuses for this such as doctor's orders or an existing medical condition, allowing high employees who mess up at work to remain employed even after testing positive will erode the professionalism of the workplace. Too many potential problems ahead if this law gets passed and it becomes illegal to fire employees who are positive for marijuana.

GregJ

Technically correct, because there would be potential problems if both conditions of your conjunct are satisfied, that is, this law is passed and it becomes illegal to fire employees who are positive for marijuana.

Unfortunately, the only real catch is that if this law gets passed, it is not inhered that it will become illegal to fire employees who are positive for marijuana.

"The bill would not prohibit an employer from terminating the employment or, or taking other corrective action against, an employee who is impaired on the property or premises of the place of employment, or during the hours of employment, because of the medical use of marijuana."

It is Senate Bill 129.

Also worth noting is that the bill does not apply to all people who test positive, only those who are qualified medical marijuana patients. Also, it doesn't apply to people who work in "safety-sensitive" positions.

explorer

What is safety-sensitive position? Whom Mark Leno is trying to protect? This guy is a trouble maker. There are so many people - children, teachers, homeless need protection. Why he wanted to spend so much time to do this?