{"id":9082,"date":"2020-02-20T01:13:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T01:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3949202"},"modified":"2020-02-20T01:13:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T01:13:52","slug":"colorado-wont-stop-employers-from-firing-workers-for-using-weed-off-the-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-wont-stop-employers-from-firing-workers-for-using-weed-off-the-clock\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado won\u2019t stop employers from firing workers for using weed off the clock"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-wont-stop-employers-from-firing-workers-for-using-weed-off-the-clock\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/colorado-wont-stop-employers-from-firing-workers-for-using-weed-off-the-clock.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2020\/02\/19\/colorado-legislature-marijuana-employees-fired-2\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"3949202\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Colorado legislators decided Wednesday not to advance a bill that aimed to protect employees from being fired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2020\/01\/14\/colorado-legislature-marijuana-employees-fired\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for using marijuana in their personal time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The 10 members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/committees\/business-affairs-labor\/2020-regular-session\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">House Business Affairs and Labor Committee<\/a> voted unanimously against the bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/2020A\/bills\/2020a_1089_01.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HB 20-1089<\/a>, after nearly three hours of testimony from people on each side.<\/p>\n<p>Though the bill would have done nothing to prohibit employers from administering drug tests, many committee members cited the lack of an adequate test to determine whether an employee is intoxicated in the moment \u2014 much like a breathalyzer does for alcohol \u2014 as a reason to table it. Others thought the proposed change to the law was too broad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe concern about keeping a workplace safe and not having a reliable method for testing people\u2019s impairment, the interest in maintaining a productive workplace, I think those are compelling,\u201d said Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do find some compelling arguments of people needing to use cannabis for medical reasons,\u201d she added. \u201cThe bill, I think, is much broader than that, than trying to narrow in on that conversation about how we make sure that people don\u2019t lose their jobs for taking something they need to make it through the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, was inspired by a court case in which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2015\/06\/15\/colorado-supreme-court-employers-can-fire-for-off-duty-pot-use\/\">Brandon Coats, a medical marijuana patient, was fired from Dish Network<\/a> after failing a drug test. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of the employer because justices believed the state\u2019s Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute defined \u201clawful\u201d as adhering to both state and federal law.<\/p>\n<p>Because marijuana is still a Schedule I drug federally, the bill aimed to make the use of cannabis a lawful off-duty activity since it is legal at the state level.<\/p>\n<p>Kimberlie Ryan, an attorney with the Ryan Law Firm who specializes in employment discrimination law, testified in favor of the bill and was disappointed with the committee\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legislature missed an amazing opportunity to protect workers and employers alike by sticking with an outdated view of cannabis and by abandoning the constitutional protections that are guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>In her testimony against the bill, Loren Furman, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce\u2019s senior vice president of state and federal relations, hearkened back to the task force appointed to advise on policy issues related to Amendment 64, which said marijuana legalization was not intended to affect employers\u2019 ability to maintain workplace drug policies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s going to be a bill that comes back or any kind of change in consideration of this policy, we need to have an exhaustive task force process again or an earlier stakeholder process than what we saw this legislative session,\u201d Furman said after the vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Colorado legislators decided Wednesday not to advance a bill that aimed to protect employees from being fired for using marijuana in their personal time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,6857,2206,2383,6813,77,2437,5667,56,9,5019,441,8035,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[2632,6859,4774,4947,6818,2655,2443,5673,2636,5022,3015,8036],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}