{"id":16242,"date":"2015-02-05T18:19:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana.html"},"modified":"2015-02-05T18:19:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:19:42","slug":"business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"noreen\n<\/div>\n
Noreen DeWire Grimmick, partner with the Hodgson Russ law firm\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY NOREEN DEWIRE GRIMMICK<\/p>\n

In July 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the
\nCompassionate Care Act (CCA) also known as
\nthe “Medical Marijuana Law”. New York is now
\nthe 23rd state to enact such a law.<\/p>\n

Rules and regulations which will govern the
\nprescribing, manufacture, distribution, and sale
\nof marijuana have been written and are likely to
\nbe adopted this year. New York employers should
\nbe aware that the CCA includes language which
\nprovides workplace protections against discrimination
\nfor patients who are certified to use
\nmarijuana for medicinal purposes under this law.<\/p>\n

Employers should stay well-informed about
\nthis legislation and should also be considering
\nhow medicinal marijuana use could impact their
\nworkplace, considering all the unique characteristics
\nof their specific workplace.<\/p>\n

A few basic concepts about this law should be
\nappreciated to understand workplace impacts.
\nFirst, the types of illnesses which would serve to
\npermit a New York health care provider to certify
\na patient to use medicinal marijuana include cancer,
\nHIV\/AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s
\ndisease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord damage
\ncausing spasticity, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel
\ndisease, neuropathies, and Huntington’s disease.<\/p>\n

Second, smoking marijuana is prohibited by
\nthis law. Third, the certified patient who is using
\nthe drug must always have their certification with
\nthem while using, carrying, buying or transporting
\nthe drug.<\/p>\n

While employees or job seekers in this state
\nwho either have, or are perceived as having the
\nserious illnesses defined under the CCA could
\nalready be considered “disabled” for purposes
\nof protection against discrimination under state
\nand federal law, now the CCA specifically provides
\nthese employees or job seekers who are qualified
\nusers of medicinal marijuana in New York with
\nadditional protection against discrimination under state law by virtue of their use of medicinal
\nmarijuana when they are certified to do so under
\nthe provisions of the CCA.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the certified use of medicinal
\nmarijuana by an employee triggers the provisions
\nunder the New York Human Rights Law (NYHRL)
\nthat require an employer to provide reasonable
\naccommodations to a “disabled” employee, absent
\nundue hardship to the employer. Taken to the next
\nstep in the analysis, the NYHRL will now require
\nthat New York employers engage in an interactive
\nprocess with such employees to ascertain whether
\na reasonable accommodation is available for them
\nto perform the essential functions of their job
\ngiven their disabled status as a certified user of
\nmedicinal marijuana under the CCA.<\/p>\n

How will this play out in the workplace? Let’s
\nconsider some examples. Consider the example
\nof an employment situation where employees are routinely tested for illegal drug use. If an employee’s
\ntest comes back positive for marijuana use,
\nbefore instituting a disciplinary action against an
\nemployee who tests positive, an employer should
\nconsider whether the employee is a certified user
\nunder the CCA. Workplace policies concerning
\ndrug testing and disciplinary action should be
\nre-evaluated with the CCA provisions in mind.<\/p>\n

What if an employee who is a certified user
\ncomes into work impaired? In this instance,
\nemployers have some protection under the CCA
\nwhich specifically states that employers are entitled
\nto enforce workplace policies that prohibit
\nemployees from working while their abilities are
\nimpaired by a controlled substance. Will this protection
\nfor employers conflict with the provision
\nthat protects employees against discrimination
\nfor medical marijuana use?<\/p>\n

This is going to be interesting to see, because I
\nthink there are likely going to be cases that raise a
\nconflict for an employer. If the employer believes
\nthe employee is impaired but the employee argues
\nhe or she is not and is instead being discriminated
\nagainst because of their status as a lawful user,
\nhow will this conflict be resolved?<\/p>\n

More than ever it is important for employers to invest in training their staff to report concerns to
\nappropriate personnel, have skillful interactions
\nwith employees they believe to be impaired, keep
\ndetailed records concerning observations of impairment,
\nand put a process in place for addressing
\nsuch issues. Reasonable steps to show that all
\nsuch cases of concern for “on the job impairment”
\nare treated in the same fashion with a uniformly
\napplied policy and discipline will certainly help
\nin the defense of an employer when claims of
\ndiscrimination are made.<\/p>\n

This is a brief analysis of a comprehensive law
\nthat has repercussions far beyond the discussion
\noffered here. There is no question that a new body
\nof case law concerning medicinal marijuana use
\non the job is likely going to develop under the
\nNYHRL.<\/p>\n

No employer wants to be the test case for
\nthis new law with its built in protections against
\nemployment discrimination, so employers should
\nstart looking at their work place policies now and
\nseek legal guidance to prepare for the effect that
\nthis law will have on their work place.<\/p>\n

Grimmick is a partner with the Hodgson
\nRuss law firm which has offices in Saratoga
\nSprings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy Hodgson Russ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noreen DeWire Grimmick, partner with the Hodgson Russ law firm BY NOREEN DEWIRE GRIMMICK In July 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act (CCA) also known as the “Medical Marijuana Law”. New York is now the 23rd…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[58,82,92,102],"class_list":["post-16242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-reports","tag-business-reports","tag-healthcare","tag-legal","tag-ny-state"],"yoast_head":"\r\nBusiness Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Noreen DeWire Grimmick, partner with the Hodgson Russ law firm BY NOREEN DEWIRE GRIMMICK In July 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act (CCA) also known as the "Medical Marijuana Law". New York is now the 23rd...\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-05T23:19:42+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/\",\"name\":\"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-05T23:19:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/ddf5fd6df8c43505ff3a5fb93e64871d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg\",\"width\":173,\"height\":266},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Saratoga Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/ddf5fd6df8c43505ff3a5fb93e64871d\",\"name\":\"Saratoga Business Journal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba402a238e359969bec40757b031230a02e1b4065fbc669f6b28ebacf90f75f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba402a238e359969bec40757b031230a02e1b4065fbc669f6b28ebacf90f75f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Saratoga Business Journal\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal","og_description":"Noreen DeWire Grimmick, partner with the Hodgson Russ law firm BY NOREEN DEWIRE GRIMMICK In July 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act (CCA) also known as the \"Medical Marijuana Law\". New York is now the 23rd...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/","og_site_name":"Saratoga Business Journal","article_published_time":"2015-02-05T23:19:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Saratoga Business Journal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Saratoga Business Journal","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/","name":"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana - Saratoga Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-05T23:19:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/ddf5fd6df8c43505ff3a5fb93e64871d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2015\/02\/noreen20grimmick20c.jpg","width":173,"height":266},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-employment-and-medical-marijuana\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Report: Employment And Medical Marijuana"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/","name":"Saratoga Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/ddf5fd6df8c43505ff3a5fb93e64871d","name":"Saratoga Business Journal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba402a238e359969bec40757b031230a02e1b4065fbc669f6b28ebacf90f75f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba402a238e359969bec40757b031230a02e1b4065fbc669f6b28ebacf90f75f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Saratoga Business Journal"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/saratogabusinessjournal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}