Legal Protections for Medical Marijuana License Holders
Hello, this is Cannabis Business Attorney Jesse Kovacs with the OK Cannabis Law Office and today we’re going to be talking about, can my employer terminate me, demote me, suspend me or otherwise penalize me just for being a medical marijuana license holder?
The answer to that question is generally no, and that also applies if you’re an applicant, so refusing to hire just because you’re a license holder, and that means a patient license holder or a commercial business license holder.
OMMA and the state of Oklahoma have enacted protections for license holders so that they cannot be discriminated against by employers just for being license holders.
Exceptions to the Rule
Now there are a couple of exceptions here, so if there is a specific federal law or regulation or something that requires the employer to not hire people that use marijuana or something like that, some specific federal requirement, then the employer can use that as a reason for taking those actions.
And similarly, if there is some sort of amount of federal funding that is given to the employer that is contingent upon them not hiring such people or taking these actions, then they can take those actions. But be aware, that does not mean that just because marijuana continues to be illegal and a scheduled drug at the federal level, that that applies for these employers.
That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about some specific rule that applies specifically to that employer or that type of employer.
Next Steps
Now keep in mind that we’re talking here just about whether they can take action just because you’re a license holder. There are some more exceptions if you happen to fail a drug test for cannabis, and that’s what we’ll get into in our next video.
If this information was helpful to you, you can find more like it at our website at oklahomamedicalmarijuana.attorney.