Employers changing course on cannabis
Despite evolving legal status, however, many users are still losing jobs
Smoking pot cost Kimberly Cue her job.
Cue, a 44-year-old chemical engineer from Silicon Valley, received an offer this year from a medical device manufacturer only to have it rescinded when the company found out that she smoked medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
“My email was set up with the company,” she said. “My business cards were printed.” But after a preemployment drug test came back positive for marijuana, a human resources representative told her the job was no longer hers.
“I’ve lost all confidence in the process,” said Cue, who ultimately took a different job at 20 percent less pay. “I’m so frustrated and so irritated. I should be able to be upfront and honest with my employer.”
The relatively rapid acceptance of marijuana use in the United States has forced lawmakers and employers to grapple with how to adapt. Last month, Nevada passed a bill prohibiting the denial of employment based on a positive test for marijuana. In Maine, employers may not discriminate against people who have used cannabis, but state law does not specifically regulate drug testing. And under a bill overwhelmingly approved in April by the New York City Council and awaiting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature, employers would no longer be able to force job applicants to take drug tests for marijuana use.
“If the state is saying someone can use marijuana for responsible adult use, then why should we care what someone does when they’re off work?” said Steven Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group.
In fact, marijuana is legal in some form in 33 states and the District of Columbia. D.C. and 10 states allow recreational use. (Illinois will join the group next year; New York and New Jersey appear to be headed in that direction.) Surveys in 2017 and this year showed that millions of Americans used cannabis with some regularity.
Some employers have already changed their policies on preemployment drug screening and not just to address the dissonance in punishing someone for using a legal substance. With unemployment so low, companies are finding that testing for marijuana adds an unnecessary barrier in hiring top talent.
“With an economy that’s humming along, employers are desperate,” said Jim Reidy, a lawyer with the firm Sheehan Phinney in Manchester, N.H., who regularly advises large corporations on drug-testing policies. “If they have these rigid drug and alcohol policies and drug testing at the preemployment stage, where marijuana was still on one of the panels, they found they were otherwise losing out on qualified candidates.”
Last year, Caesars Entertainment, one of Nevada’s largest casino companies and employers, said it would no longer test candidates for marijuana. A company press officer called such testing “counterproductive” and acknowledged that it might be eliminating good candidates. Cannabis is legal for recreational use in Nevada, and Las Vegas is dotted with dispensaries.
Apple, too, has changed course. “In general, we have stopped testing most candidates and have never done testing of current employees,” the company said. “We continue to do preemployment drug testing for a limited number of positions that have a safety risk.”