Employers will still need to tread carefully with employees who use marijuana off-duty and who are not under the influence at work.
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When talking about Connecticut, images of centuries-old Ivy League buildings and a J. Crew catalog may enter many peoples’ minds. And while the “Constitution State” is friendly to drug testing, the stipulations and extra requirements placed on employers and businesses may leave some worried about what their rights to drug testing really are in the state. Below are five things that you need to know when drug testing in Connecticut:
Drug Testing Law Type: Friendly, with restrictions on random testing, and requires reasonable suspicion for all other cases.
Workers’/Unemployment Compensation Denial: Connecticut has its own separate unemployment compensation law that contains its own requirements. Employers are not required to comply unless they wish to deny unemployment compensation claims. But keep in mind, an individual can only be deemed ineligible for compensation due to drug testing if that drug or alcohol testing was mandated by state or federal law and conducted in accordance with state or federal law.
Marijuana Laws: The state allows employers to prohibit the use of intoxicating substances while at work, as well as discipline employees who are under the influence of marijuana while currently working. However, an employer cannot fire an employee solely on the basis of being a qualifying medical marijuana patient or provider.
Recreational marijuana use is permitted with the exception of some safety-sensitive jobs such as fire fighters, EMTs, police officers, as well as others.
However, some of this information will change in July 2022. The new statute states that nothing in the law limits or prevents an employer from subjecting an employee or applicant to drug testing or a fitness-for-duty evaluation. Employers will also not be limited in their ability to take adverse action on an employee suspected of marijuana use while actively working. This extends to employment termination as well as other adverse effects on the drug using employee.
Employers will still need to tread carefully with employees who use marijuana off-duty and who are not under the influence at work.
A Major Case Law Decision: In 2016, a suit was filed on behalf of Katelin Noffsinger against Niantic Operating Co. in regards to a job offer being rescinded after Noffsinger tested positive for THC in her urine. The plaintiff informed her soon-to-be employer that she was a qualifying medical marijuana patient to treat PTSD and she provided sufficient evidence of her registration certificate and dosage. After her urine sample came back positive for THC, her job offer was rescinded under the rationale that the company used the federal policy on marijuana use, which considered marijuana an illegal substance. Noffsinger later filed a wrongful termination suit against the company and the court ultimately sided with her, stating that the employer did not have grounds for termination under Connecticut’s “Palliative Use of Marijuana Act” (PUMA).
Conclusion: Things are changing in Connecticut. It’s important to know what your rights are as an employer while not messing yourself up with confusion over what is and isn’t allowed.
Contact NMS Management Services for more info: 800.269.0502
This information is provided for educational purposes only. Reader retains full responsibility for the use of the information contained herein.