Starting in January 2024, Californians who use cannabis during their non-working hours will enjoy enhanced employment safeguards, courtesy of new legislation. The California drug testing law is one of the most significant moves in the country toward protecting workers from disciplinary action if they use cannabis during their own free time.

It addresses an issue that has cost people their jobs around the country, leading to some employers questioning the wisdom of testing for cannabis at all. Truckers argue it’s led to a shortage of drivers. Both Philadelphia and New York have taken steps to protect employees who use cannabis during off-hours.

As the nation’s largest state, California’s new law impacts the largest number of people. It also will help end what can become a hostile environment for those who use cannabis for medical or recreational purposes, according to cannabis advocates.

“Testing or threatening to test bodily fluids for cannabis metabolites has been the most common way that employers harass and discriminate against employees who lawfully use cannabis in the privacy of their own homes,” Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, wrote in a statement.

Details on the New California Drug Testing Law

Assembly Bill 2188, an amendment to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, bars employers from discriminating against employees who test positive for non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in urine, hair or bodily fluids.

Employers can still test for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that causes the high. However, the law stops employers from discriminating against employees who have metabolized THC in their system.

Individuals without active THC in their system – in other words, they are not high – are now protected. This means that those who use cannabis recreationally over the weekend cannot face penalties when resuming work on Monday. Both medical and recreational marijuana are legal in California.

Cannabis metabolites can linger in the body for extended periods, potentially showing up on drug screenings for up to 90 days. However, the presence of these metabolites does not indicate current impairment but rather recent cannabis consumption.

Moreover, prospective employers are now prohibited from holding past cannabis use against job candidates based on drug test results.

Another Law Protects Workers From Questions About Cannabis Use

A second new law, Assembly Bill 700, protects employees and job applicants from having to answer questions about past cannabis use, barring employers from asking those questions. However, employers are allowed to ask about past convictions.

NORML advised those who have faced discrimination for off-the-job cannabis use – including pre-employment screenings, disciplinary actions taken against them as employees or being fired – to complain to their union representative. They also said they can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).

They also advised California workers in this position to contact NORML to “make a complaint and possibly be connected with a private attorney who could help file a claim, once administrative remedies have been exhausted and a right to sue has been established with the CRD.

However, as noted by NBC 7 in San Diego, the California drug laws do not protect federal employees and those who work in building and construction trades.