California Employment Protections for Marijuana Users & Workplace Testing
This article helps clarify California Employment Law (A.B. 2188) for Workplace Cannabis Testing signed in 2022.
What is California A.B. 2188?
California law now prohibits the discrimination of employment based on the use of marijuana off the job and away from the workplace with the signing of Assembly Bill 2188. On Sept. 18, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2188. The bill, which takes effect January 1, 2024, makes it unlawful to discriminate in hiring, terminating, or any other condition of employment to be based upon a person’s use of marijuana off the job and away from the workplace. (1)
How does California A.B. 2188 affect employers?
The law prohibits employers in California from screening employees for marijuana using methods that detect non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in urine, hair, and other tests. As stated in the new law, this is because metabolites indicate past use of 30 days or more that does not correlate to impairment or intoxication. Employee-rights groups have long argued those tests are discriminatory, penalizing people for using a legal product on their own time. According to the California Legislature, due to advancements in science, “employers now have access to multiple types of tests that do not rely on the presence of nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites.” These included “tests that identify the presence of THC in an individual’s bodily fluids.”
The bill would exempt certain applicants and employees from the bill’s provisions, including employees in the building and construction trades and applicants and employees in positions requiring a federal background investigation or clearance, as specified. (1)
How can employers still maintain workplace safety?
“Businesses would still be allowed to use saliva tests that look for active Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a sign that a worker could be intoxicated on the job.” (2) Rapid saliva-based testing provides the solution as it has a window of detection that starts after use and lasts for the entire 3-to-10 hour marijuana window of impairment, it is easy to administer on-site, donor-driven, and is non-invasive. It acts as an effective deterrent to workplace cannabis use and provides fairness to legal users while ensuring safety on the job.
How can our solution help businesses?
XALIVA® THC detects the actual psychoactive THC molecule rather than its metabolites and provides recent marijuana use detection within the last 10 hours. With high accuracy, it provide on-site THC detection using saliva within about 15 minutes while being a portable and cost-effective solution to screen employees. XALIVA® THC allows employers to retain responsible employees while ensuring workplace safety with a fair test that only detects recent cannabis use.
