Marijuana in the workplace: area employers wonder whether to change drug-free policies with Amendment 64.

AuthorCaley, Nora
PositionWORKING WITH THE MARIJUANA LAW

Colorado lawyers have been Fielding phone calls since Nov. 6, 2612, when voters passed Amendment 64, Use & Regulation of Marijuana. The calls have a similar tone and theme.

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"The main question on my clients' minds is, 'Do we need to do anything?'" says Holli Hartman, an employment law attorney with BakerHostetler in Denver. "There is a misconception that people can smoke marijuana anywhere, and that's not I he case."

Hartman, who served on the Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force, which Gov. John Hickenlooper created in December 2012, says her employer clients usually want to know whether they need to start drug testing employees, stop drug testing or change their hiring and firing policies. They worry they will be sued if they terminate an employee who uses marijuana during non-work hours.

But the answer may be more straightforward, given Amendment 642s inclusion of the sentence: "Nothing in this section is intended to require an employer to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale, or growing of marijuana in the workplace, or to affect the ability of employers to have policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees."

That language, Hartman says, allows employers to maintain status quo. "They are relieved they can contribute to creating a sale working environment for their employees," Hartman says. But they are concerned they are going to see more employees use marijuana, or they will have employees who think they have a 'get out of jail free' card."

Curtis Graves, a staff attorney with the employment law services department of the Mountain States Employers Council, says he responds to similar calls about marijuana every day. "Can an employer terminate someone for marijuana use? The answer is yes," he says.

The nonprofit MSEC added roughly 100 words to its sample drug policy, to assist members who want to rewrite that section of their employee handbooks. Employers don't have to rewrite or change their policies because of Amendment 64, but some are choosing to add a few words to it they maintain a drug-free professional environment.

"We recommend it be reviewed every couple or years," Graves says or the employee handbook. "It makes sense to add that."

It's not just the wording of Amendment 64 that protects employers who demand workers remain marijuana-free. The drug is still illegal under federal law. "The state amendment does not trump federal law," says...

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