This is not the first time a bill advocating for cannabis users has been proposed in the state of Colorado, and it likely won’t be the last.
The Colorado House Committee on Business Affairs & Labor voted unanimously last month to kill House Bill 1152, a bill that would have prohibited employers from firing employees for their recreational cannabis use after work hours and even their medical cannabis use during work hours.
However, like the bills before it, HB 1152 was overcome by concerns over safety, enforcement and the rights of employers.
“I am very familiar with this community; I’ve worked with them for years,” Hooton said.
Dish Network verdict, when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that in a statute preventing people from being fired for lawful activities outside of work, the term “lawful” refers to activities under both state and federal law.
“People who use medical marijuana are not a protected class, so in a traditional employment relationship, the employer does get to set the terms and conditions of employment,” Rep.
Despite this decision being a triumph for Colorado employers, the verdict also left medical marijuana users open to facing potential consequences of consuming cannabis despite it being a legal substance in the state of Colorado.
“Part of the problem is that I had offered the bill concept mostly to the business community weeks before the bill had its first hearing, and I only got one response,” Hooton said.
HB 1152 also caused worry on the county level regarding how employers would measure their employees’ level of impairment in the event of a work-related accident given the lack of reliable testing technology.
“We really don’t have a way to differentiate active THC versus background or remnant THC,” Bergman said.
“ control symptoms without impacting functioning, but so many don’t know that,” Hooton said.