New legal legislation on recreational cannabis in Illinois requires workers to be intoxicated until employers can fire them

New cannabis laws allow employers to enforce a drug-free environment, but in the Environment Act, they can interfere with Illinois citizens’ right to privacy. The Workplace Law’s Right to Privacy specifies that an employer can not punish a worker exclusively for doing legal work outside of the workplace.

Recently passed follow-up legislation, which amends Illinois ‘ recreational cannabis law, notes that employers may still provide “reasonable drug and alcohol testing, reasonable and nondiscriminatory random drug testing, and discipline, termination of employment, or withdrawal of a job offer due to failure of a drug screening.” However, some professionals said other employment laws could clash with those employer laws.

The legislation states: “An employer may consider an employee to be impaired or under the influence of cannabis if the employer has a good faith belief that an employee manifests specific, articulable symptoms while working that decrease or lessen the employee’s performance of the duties or tasks of the employee’s job position, including symptoms of the employee’s speech, physical dexterity, agility, coordination, demeanor, irrational or unusual behavior, or negligence or carelessness in operating equipment or machinery; disregard for the safety of the employee or others, or involvement in any accident that results in serious damage to equipment or property; disruption of a production or manufacturing process; or carelessness that results in any injury to the employee or others,”

Another important thing to note, for your consideration, is that Federal employees can still be drug tested and fired for failing said tests.