Employers in New York have a lot of questions now that adult-use cannabis is legal, and it will likely require internal reviews of company policies to ensure they are clear, but that they also comply with changes in labor law.
About eight of out 10 employers that responded to a National Safety Council survey in 2021 reported that they had concerns about recreational cannabis and other related products.
However, that same survey found that only one-third of the employers had identified cannabis as a primary concern and less than half of the employers even had written policies specific to cannabis.
“We get questions pretty much on a daily basis now about this topic,” said Liz Warren, executive vice president for Employer Services Corporation, which provides human resources and other services to businesses. “So, the first thing that we do is we talk to the particular company about what is their policy in their handbook because that’s where you have to start.”
For example, if drug testing is a condition of employment, employers governed by state law will have to remove cannabis from the list of illegal substances. That’s because state lawmakers amended the labor law to prohibit employers from acting against employees for legal conduct off-duty, attorneys said.
But what is deemed “off-duty”? And what about impairment on the job?
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