BOSTON — Changing marijuana laws aren’t necessarily making weed more welcome in the workplace.
For now, many employers appear to be sticking with their drug testing and personal conduct policies, even in states where recreational marijuana use is now permitted. Others are keeping a close eye on the still-evolving legal, regulatory and political environment.
Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada voted Nov. 8 to approve the use of recreational marijuana, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, where it had previously been legalized. (A recount of Maine’s close result is scheduled.) More than two dozen states have medical marijuana programs.
But the drug is still against federal law.
A closer look at what it all means for workers and businesses:
• CAN MY EMPLOYER STILL TEST ME FOR POT?
Bottom line: You can’t come to work high. You can still be drug tested. And you can still be fired — or not hired — for failing a drug test even if you’re not the least bit impaired at work.
All the states with legalized recreational pot have exemptions for workplace drug policies.
In Massachusetts, for example, the law includes language stating that “the authority of employers to enact and enforce workplace policies restricting the consumption of marijuana by employees” is not changed.