20 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2021
WHAT POT LEGALIZATION
MEANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
The law lifts the state’s ban on recreational
marijuana for those 21 and
older, establishes the Office of Cannabis
Management, expands the state’s
existing medical marijuana program
and establishes a licensing system for
producers, distributors, and retailers.
It also creates a program “encouraging
individuals disproportionately
impacted by cannabis enforcement”
to participate in the industry, aiming
for half of licenses to go to minority
or woman-owned businesses, small
farms facing difficulties, and disabled
veterans.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the rules
“comprehensive reforms” that would
“address and balance the social equity,
safety and economic impacts of legal
adult-use cannabis.” But if marijuana
is legal for adults, what is legal for
employers to do?
“There are numerous employment-related
implications to the law, starting
from pre-employment drug testing,”
said Avrohom Gefen, a partner at
Vishnick McGovern Milizio LLP’s Employment
Law, Commercial Litigation,
and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Practices. “If you’re going to administer
pre-employment drug tests, you’ll
likely get tripped up.”
New York City’s Human Rights law already
bans pre-employment marijuana
testing, and the new law is expected to
essentially extend that prohibition.
“Many handbooks have a drug-testing
policy,” Gefen said. “A typical panel of
drugs would include cannabis. We’re
advising employers to revise that.”
He added that companies can prohibit
employees from using marijuana in
the office and coming to work under
the influence.
Marijuana use remains prohibited
under federal law, a policy which can
come into play in some ways. State law
says employers can’t be penalized for
following federal guidelines, such as
those for pilots, truck drivers, train
operators, first responders and police
officers.
“You can test them even without
observing any articulable symptoms
pre-employment and during employment,”
Gefen said.
Cities, towns, and villages can opt out
of allowing “adult-use cannabis retail
dispensaries or on-site consumption
licenses,” but cannot “opt out of adultuse
legalization.”
The state Department of Health has
been instructed to study detection of
cannabis-impaired driving and is expected
to “approve and certify a test for
the presence of cannabis in drivers.”
You’re still not allowed to use marijuana
while driving.
“With alcohol, there are bright-line
rules,” Gefen said, noting the need for
standards. “If you’re over a certain legal
limit, you’re considered intoxicated.”
The state plans to set up a program for
homegrown marijuana that will allow
up to three mature plants and three
immature plants for adults older than
21 and six mature plants and six immature
plants maximum per household.
And it created “automatic expungement
or resentencing” for anyone with
a previous marijuana conviction that
would “now be legal under the law.”
“I don’t think there’s a strong movement
to legalize pot at the federal level,”
Gefen said. “You have individual states
taking action. And the federal government
is not taking strong action against
it.”
The Shinnecock Indian Nation plans to
cultivate marijuana on its reservation
in Southampton now that recreational
use is legal, as the new rules create
some jobs.
“Ultimately, you’ll have big money
behind it,” Gefen said of an industry
that could employ thousands in the
state legally. “As it becomes more acceptable
and prevalent, you’re going
to see institutional money behind
businesses.”
Legalization would bring taxation, projected
to reach $350 million annually,
and potentially create 30,000 to 60,000
jobs.
“The governor sees tax dollars running
to other states, such as New Jersey,
which legalized it previous to this,”
Gefen said. “They see people crossing
over the border to buy marijuana legally.
They would lose out on hundreds of
millions of dollars in tax revenue each
year.”
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continued from page 19
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