Pot-Related Labor Issues Discussed by Legislative Committee

Wednesday, July 26, 2017 | 0

Under Maine’s new recreational marijuana law, most employers won’t be able to fire workers for testing positive for the substance, but must instead prove they were impaired on the job, a state official said.

And under the state’s existing medical marijuana program, businesses can’t turn down job applicants for using marijuana because they might be using it to treat a medical condition, said Julie Rabinowitz, the Maine Department of Labor’s director of policy, operations and communications.

Rabinowitz spoke on Monday to a state legislative committee formed to create the regulatory framework for recreational marijuana. Her remarks were reported by the Portland Press-Herald.

The discussion centered on labor issues related to the state’s medical marijuana program and the recreational marijuana law, scheduled to take effect in February.

Employers in other states that have legalized marijuana have more rights than those in Maine, and the state risks losing employers if clear, consistent and easy-to-follow regulations aren’t adopted, Rabinowitz said.

Other speakers at the committee meeting included Paul Sighinolfi, director of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board. Sighinolfi discussed a case pending before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court about whether workers’ comp payers can be forced to reimburse an injured worker for the use of medical marijuana.

A hearing officer concluded that the use of medical marijuana constituted reasonable and proper medical treatment for Gaetan Bourgoin, who suffered a work-related back injury in 1989 while working for Twin Rivers Paper Co. A three-judge panel in the appellate division upheld the decision.

In May, the state’s high court granted Twin Rivers’ petition to review the case. Oral arguments are expected this fall.