Last week, Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) introduced a bill which would prohibit an employer from discriminating against a person for a positive marijuana test.
According to AB 1256, it prohibits an employer from discriminating against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment because a drug screening test has found the person to have tetrahydrocannabinol in their urine.
This bill would authorize a person who has suffered discrimination in violation of the bill’s provisions to institute and prosecute in their own name and on their own behalf a civil action for specified relief.
The bill states:
- Except as specified in subdivision (c), an employer shall not discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment on account of the fact that a drug screening test has found that person to have tetrahydrocannabinol in their urine.
- A person who has suffered discrimination in violation of subdivision (a) may institute and prosecute in their own name and on their own behalf a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, any other appropriate equitable relief to protect the peaceable exercise of the right or rights secured, and any other relief the court may deem proper.
- This section does not prohibit an employer from conducting a screening test for tetrahydrocannabinol if any of the following apply:
- The employer is required to conduct that test by federal law or regulations, including Subpart F of Part 655 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations and the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988.
- The employer would lose a monetary or licensing-related benefit for failing to do so.
- The employment is in the building and construction trades.
According to the bill:
Existing law establishes various personal rights and makes unlawful certain employment practices that discriminate on certain protected bases. Existing law makes a person who engages in certain prohibited conduct liable in a cause of action by the aggrieved person, as specified.
This bill would prohibit an employer from discriminating against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment because a drug screening test has found the person to have tetrahydrocannabinol in their urine. The bill would exempt from its provisions an employer that is required to conduct testing for tetrahydrocannabinol by federal law or regulations, or that would lose a monetary or licensing-related benefit for failing to conduct testing for tetrahydrocannabinol. The bill would also exempt employment in the building and construction trades
This bill would authorize a person who has suffered discrimination in violation of the bill’s provisions to institute and prosecute in their own name and on their own behalf a civil action for specified relief.
8 comments
Great! And hard drugs will be allowed, too. Pretty soon, you’ll need an positive drug test to be promoted where you work. Why is our government trying to drug us all up? I hate to break it to the potheads and druggies out there, but they’re not good for you. It’s also not good when you get behind the wheel and kill a family because you’re high.
Troy, it’s never good when a family is killed, no matter if the suspect is high or not. I guess, unless it was the Manson family. So.,……. yeah. Now you know.
I guess Quirk has been talking to Senator Wiener.
Damn crying bout smoking weed but no one is pushing for prohibition on alcohol. More idiots stuck on old opinions instead of data. Decades of research is clear and unequivocal at this point. Alcohol causes more violence, more accidents, more health problems, more time lost from work period. I partake of the cannabis and got 2 BA degrees, 1 MS degree and a 110k a year job just 3 years after graduating. Never been foul of the law, never drive under the influence. People with problems will have problems with or without smoking. Gone are your stoner stereotypes from decades old movies. Time to catch up with the times, many many smokers are much much more successful and law abiding than you bro get over it or start clamoring to ban alcohol as well.
This is long overdue, and a big sign of progress. A plant that is so beneficial and intimately entertained with the history and genetics of mankind should not have heavier federal regulations than, for example, crack and heroin. Cannabis is to humanity what bamboo is to the panda; we are forever rediscovering all of the many beneficial uses this plants has for humanity, most of which is in the area of private at-home remedies for tons of different ailments.
Oh, Geez, gimme a break, Your Mother. Is cannibus less harmful than crack and heroin? Certainly. Is it “so beneficial and intimately “entertained” (I assume you mean entwined) with the history and genetics of mankind”? Hardly.
Oh sure! I would love to have my employee STONED out of his mind working on a project requiring close concentration. Higher than kite!
Dumb bill. Don’t use cannabis-pot-weed if you want a job in the transportation sector, heavy equipment operations, iron workers, or public safety. A long time ago a Navy pilot crashed his jet on a carrier. When they pulled is half burnt body out of the cockpit and performed an autopsy guess what drug was in his system? Marijuana, sport fans. The marijuana industry is pushing this “it’s safe” horseshit, just like the tobacco industry did with filter cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. I’m a teacher and I see how listless, intellectually vacant, and yes hungry, these kids who use marijuana and are in homes that smoke, eat, and consume it. Dumb legislator who’s likely ban-rolled by the pot industry or the East Bay Express- the marijuana rag
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