New Jersey cannabis legalization and employers

New Jersey passed “The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (CREAMMA) into law to legalize and regulate marijuana use and possession for adults 21 years and older in February 2021. So how does that effect New Jersey employers? They are now prohibited from taking an adverse action against an individual due to recreational marijuana use. 

Employers can continue to maintain and enforce drug-free workplace policies that prohibit the use, possession, or being under the influence of marijuana in the workplace and during work hours. Employers may take adverse employment action as defined when “refusing to hire or employ an individual, barring or discharging an individual from employment, requiring an individual to retire from employment, or discriminating against an individual in compensation or in any terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.”

CREAMMA allows employers to conduct drug testing for pre-employment screening, suspicion of employee use of marijuana while at work, finding observable signs of marijuana use, regular screening of current employees, random testing for safety-sensitive positions, and following a work-related accident subject to investigation.