Nathaniel M. Glasser, a Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Barron’s Next, in “Legal or Not, Smoking Weed Can Get You Fired,” by Crystal Kim.
Following is an excerpt:
So far, in cases in Colorado and Montana, courts have sided with employers against sympathetic individuals, says Nathaniel Glasser, an employment, labor, and workforce management lawyer at Washington firm Epstein Becker Green. Since federal law, which prohibits marijuana, preempts state law, courts have found that employers were justified in their firing.
Glasser, who frequently consults employers on workplace-discrimination laws, tells Barron’s Next that employees should get the facts and exercise precaution, at least for these early stages of the reefer revolution. Some helpful tips:
Read up on your state’s laws. Laws vary state to state. Maine’s statute, for example, says that employers can’t refuse employment to someone solely for smoking pot. “If Mr. Smith, for example, uses marijuana at home and goes to work the day, unimpaired, the employer can’t terminate,” says Glasser. Here’s a cheat sheet from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
