Medical cannabis patients may face employment discrimination after disclosing their status, requesting an accommodation, or receiving a positive drug-test result. Problems may include denial of employment, suspension, termination, disciplinary action, denial of promotion, refusal to return an employee to work, or denial of a workplace accommodation.
Employers may rely on drug-free workplace policies, safety-sensitive job requirements, federal contracts, insurance concerns, or drug-testing rules. Employers often apply these policies without considering whether the employee used medical cannabis off duty, whether there is evidence of workplace impairment, whether the person can perform the essential functions of the job, or whether another reasonable solution is available.
The federal law is new, and the Department of Justice and federal agencies have provided little guidance for employers.Patients may have to educate human resources staff, supervisors, testing companies, and medical review officers. The new protections do not grant anyone the right to work while impaired or to ignore legitimate safety requirements, but they support requesting an individualized review rather than automatic punishment based solely on patient status or a test result. |
Patients and caregivers can use the resources on this page to communicate with an employer, human resources department, medical review officer, or union representative. These include educational materials about the law and patients’ rights, as well as sample reasonable accommodation requests that can help frame the conversation. A request does not guarantee that an employer will approve the accommodation or reverse an employment decision. Because these protections are new, meaningful implementation may require continued education, agency complaints, grievances, or litigation.
PATIENT & CAREGIVER RESOURCES:
NEED HELP DOCUMENTING OR REPORTING DISCRIMINATION? |
The threat of losing a job or income can make it difficult to focus on anything beyond the immediate crisis. Even so, documenting what happened, reporting discrimination to ASA, and educating employers about discriminatory practices are essential to making these protections real.
1. Assert your rights and be prepared to educate your employer.
2. Request a reasonable accommodation or individualized review.
3. Keep and organize testing records, policies, personnel documents, and communications.
REPORTING DISCRIMINATION
Whenever possible, request the policy and decision in writing, document statements about federal law or federal funding, preserve notices and communications, and record every upcoming deadline.
The checklist below can help patients and caregivers document what happened, identify the workplace policy or decision involved, and gather the records needed to request an accommodation, challenge an employment action, or report discrimination.
You don't need all the documents on this checklist before reporting an incident. Report urgent situations promptly, continue gathering records, and keep copies of everything you submit.
Download Employment Discrimination Checklist
Helpful ASA Resources
The following Americans for Safe Access resources can help patients and caregivers understand their state medical cannabis program, assert their rights, document discrimination, and seek assistance.
Know Your State’s Medical Cannabis Laws | Understand and Assert Your Rights | Tools for Asserting Your Rights | Report Medical Cannabis Discrimination | Traveling with Medical Cannabis | ASA Patient Guides | ASA Resources for Patients and Caregivers
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