“Zero Tolerance” For Pot? Maybe Not

To call this an unsettled area of employment law would be an understatement. Not only is the law unsettled, it contradicts itself. With that in mind, employers in states where marijuana has been legalized may want to consider ending random drug tests and scrapping a zero tolerance drug policy, write Perkins Coie attorneys Sue Stott and Lauren Kulpa. Instead, employers might consider a “no impairment” policy. Some recent precedents certainly suggest as much. Employees who were dismissed for medical marijuana use have been allowed to proceed with a discrimination claim based on the contention that the dismissal was a pretext for disability discrimination.