Dive Brief:
- Thirty-four percent of the 500 employers polled by Paychex earlier this year said they're not ready to manage medicinal use of cannabis in the workplace. Thirty-eight percent said the same about recreational use of the drug.
- A slightly larger portion of employers said they felt prepared for the management of medical marijuana. Forty-two percent said they felt "very prepared" to manage employees' use of medical marijuana, while 39% said so about recreational marijuana.
- Broken down by industry, the highest level of readiness for medical use was professional services at 70%, which were also the least prepared for recreational use, at only 58%. Manufacturing and retail/wholesalers were the most prepared for recreational use, both at 64%.
Dive Insight:
As many states reconsider or create new marijuana legislation, businesses are scrambling to formulate policies and procedures that don't infringe on employee rights and continue to protect their interests. Marijuana is one of the most common findings in drug screenings, according to recent data.
Positive drug screening hit a 10-year high recently, with marijuana use rising significantly in states where recreational use of the drug has been legalized. Employers will want to pay attention to developing local legislation. In a recent case, for example, an employee who Walmart fired due to a positive drug test was discriminated against, according to an Arizona court, because the company did not provide ample evidence she was impaired on the job and relied only on the test results. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer employers are testing for marijuana use, according to recent research.
