Last week, we posted a blog addressing how the recent legalization of recreational cannabis in Minnesota may affect employee drug-testing policies. We now direct our attention to employers with questions about their general drug and alcohol policies. Here are some things to consider when changing an existing drug and alcohol policy.
Understanding the Law
As
On August 1, 2023, recreational marijuana and cannabis products became legal in the state of Minnesota. Employers are now asking how this new law affects their employment policies and procedures. In the first of a two-part series of blog posts on how the legalization of marijuana affects drug and alcohol polices, we address whether employers
The Minnesota legislature has passed a bill permitting recreational marijuana use by adults, making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize cannabis. Governor Walz is expected to sign the bill, which establishes a complex regulatory framework for the newly legalized product. Among many other statutes, the new law contains a number of provisions that will
In October 2019, we published a blog post covering a series of three cases taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court that addressed the question of whether discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”). Today, we follow up with this post
Millions of small businesses have been awaiting further guidance on the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which applies to private businesses with fewer than 500 employees. On April 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor published its temporary rule issuing regulations pursuant to the FFCRA. This article will discuss the U.S. Department of Labor’s
The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) defines certain employees as exempt and others as nonexempt. Nonexempt employees are generally entitled to receive overtime pay at a rate of at least one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay. Overtime is often easy to calculate on straight weekly earnings, but what happens when employees
Recently, Quest Diagnostics, a company offering drug-testing services to employers, issued a report highlighting year-over-year double-digit increases in positive urine tests for marijuana between 2015–2017 in almost one-third of all U.S. industry sectors. The company has catalogued over thirty years of national workplace drug positivity trends, and it reports significant increased positive tests both in
Cannabis remains illegal under federal law as a Schedule I drug, leaving states to craft their own marijuana-related laws in true patchwork fashion. By now, most states have enacted at least some form of medical marijuana law. State officials increasingly understand the benefits of medical marijuana for patients who have qualifying medical conditions. But acceptance
If you’re an employer with questions regarding employee marijuana use, you’re not alone. State and local governments are increasingly paving the way for cannabis use at what is generally viewed as a rapid pace. In addition to states where legislatures are acting independently to pass cannabis-related laws, in every election cycle, more marijuana-related issues find