Medical Marijuana at the Workplace

Medical Marijuana at the Workplace

Organizations should formulate defensible drug policies that align with the legal rights of workers and mitigate its possible consequences on job safety and the company’s bottom line. The employees must have an environment that will help them to achieve their full potential to ensure maximum output. The policies may either be developed independently from the employment contracts or as part of the main terms of employment. Fundamentally, effective drug policies help to ensure that individuals who are not under any form of medication remain sober at all times. Preferably, they should be developed by a lawyer to provisions which conform with the legal regime from which the business operates.

The management should ascertain that their state laws allow for legal marijuana use. Cannabis is illegal under federal law; thus, each state has specific regulations regarding the treatment of medical marijuana users at the workplace (National Safety Council). The use of marijuana is illegal as per the federal laws. However, in Nevada, the use of marijuana has been legalized to cover both the medicinal and recreational use of the drug. At the workplace, the legal provisions for therapeutic use are the most important. Article 4 states that the medicinal use of marijuana has to be upon the advice of a competent physician for purposes of dealing with diseases such as cancer, glaucoma, or any other ailment that may leave a person at a debilitating medical condition (Nevada Legislature). Chapter 453A provides further legislation on how employees and the management should enforce medicinal marijuana use at the workplace. The original provision on accommodation was amended in 2013, and it requires employers to extend reasonable accommodation to their employees who have marijuana cards. In this regard, the employer is not obligated to pay the medical expense of an individual who is under marijuana medication. Also, the law does make it mandatory for an employer to allow the medicinal use of marijuana at work. However, once the employer has approved the therapeutic use, they may make any necessary modifications that will enable the employee to undergo full treatment.

It is the responsibility of the management to ascertain the certification of marijuana users within their premises. As provided for under Nevada’s Equal Opportunity Employment Act, an employer is an organization that has at least fifteen employees. However, chapter 435A takes a broader approach by failing to provide a specific definition of an employee. Th makes it possible for any person or corporation to qualify as an employing authority. Legal marijuana is for use by patients of designated diseases (Keller and Spretnak 7). America has a confidential state-run patient registry responsible for issuing qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions identification cards (NRS 453A.200). However, the state Legislature made some amendments in 2015 that affect the use of medical marijuana cards at work. For instance, SB 62 allows the employer to undertake disciplinary measures against an individual who is involved in the misuse of marijuana, even though they are cardholders. The rationale for the amendments was to ensure that the holders did not misuse the drug through redistribution to other individuals who are not to use the drug for similar purposes.

The onus is on the employer to address job safety concerns at the workplace. The 2013 Amendment to the NRS 453A.800, the state law does not compel an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana at the workplace; it only requires them to make an attempt where possible (Nevada Legislature a). The managers are not obligated to provide medical pay to facilitate the use of medical marijuana. Also, the legislation exempts the managers from providing reasonable accommodation in case such provision would pose as a threat to the business (Keller and Spretnak 19). This extends to the physical premises and the properties owned by an entity or manager. It has been argued that the threat may as well continue to any possible dangers posed to the other employees at the workplace. Furthermore, NRS 453A.800 shields the employer from implementing modifications that could be unreasonably expensive or difficult to set up (Nevada Legislature a). Moreover, decided cases have shown that the reasonable accommodation to be adopted should not be measures that would prohibit the employee from undertaking their duly assigned duties and responsibilities. Thus, the employees cannot use their medical use of marijuana as an excuse to fail to finish tasks or remain absent from the workplace.

The main obstacle facing the realization of reasonable accommodation as provided under NRS 453A.800 relates to enforcement. The legislation has not empowered any state body with authority to ensure that where necessary, the appropriate modification measures have been implemented (Keller and Spretnak 11). This is particularly risky because some cases of medical use of marijuana require some form of reasonable accommodation. Failure to put in place critically leaves the exceptional circumstances at the mercy of the managers who may arbitrarily opt not to provide the necessary help. The Nevada Equal Rights Commission has indicated that it will only investigate the failure of an employer to accommodate the disability requires the use of medical marijuana (Keller and Spretnak 12). This fundamentally means that they will not put the seniors to task for failure to put mechanisms in place to ensure the treatment of the underlying disability is achieved. However, the Nevada Labor Commissioner is empowered by NRS 607.160 to enforce state laws whose enforcement has not been vested on any other officer (Keller and Spretnak 13). This may be inferred to mean that they could become the safeguard the employees’ rights on accommodation whenever deemed necessary.

The employer must ensure that in case they allow for the use of marijuana at the workplace, they should take responsibility for the impact it will have on their bottom line. It has been noted that the use of marijuana may have some undesirable effects on the employee, such as increased industrial accidents, diminished productivity, and more cases of absenteeism (National Safety Council). Hence, after approval of the use of medical marijuana, an employer must develop a good drug policy. The blueprint has to effectively regulate the nature and extent to which the drug may be used at work. For instance, it is recommended that a manager creates a scheme that is specific to the condition of the employee. Also, the plan has to clearly state the areas within which the medical use of marijuana can take place. The facilitation of reasonable accommodation at the workplace will ensure that any possible effects on the bottom line are as minimal as possible.