Employers in Puerto Rico are prohibited from discriminating against qualified medical cannabis patients as they are considered a protected class under U.S. territory labor protection laws.
On Thursday last week, Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi signed an amendment to Puerto Rico's cannabis law to include and protect patients under all labor laws.
Effective immediately, more than 113.000 registered and authorized medical cannabis patients in Puerto Rico are protected from workplace discrimination during the hiring, hiring, designation or termination process and when disciplinary action is imposed.
Patients not protected in all cases in Puerto Rico
According to US law firm Jackson Lewis PC, a patient with medical cannabis would not be protected if an employer can substantiate that the patient poses a "real threat of harm or danger to others or property".
Protections would not apply if the use of medicinal cannabis interferes with an employee's performance and duties, or if the patient uses cannabis during working hours or in the workplace without written permission from the employer.
The law firm also points to an exemption if "allowing the use of medical cannabis would expose the employer to the risk of losing a license, permit or certification related to any federal law, regulation, program or fund."
Puerto Rico's amendment reflects today's changing cultural landscape, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML.
He notes that most US medical cannabis programs offer explicit protections to employees and that some states — such as Nevada, New Jersey and New York — even protect adults who consume marijuana in their off hours.
“Suspicious marijuana testing in the workplace, such as pre-employment drug screening, is not now, and has never been, an evidence-based policy. Rather, this discriminatory practice is a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 'war on drugs' of the XNUMXs. But times have changed; attitudes have changed and marijuana laws have changed in many places. It is time for workplace policies to adapt to this new reality and stop punishing employees for activities they perform outside office hours that do not threaten workplace safety.”
Medicinal cannabis was approved in Puerto Rico in 2015 by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla in an executive order. Two years later, Law 42-2017 replaced the implementing decree and a legal framework was created.
Sources ao Hemptoday (EN), Mugglehead (EN), littler (EN), NORMAL (EN)
