Medical or recreational use of marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia, but employers in those locations continue to have a zero-tolerance policy about the drug’s use in the workplace, according to the Policies for Marijuana Use in the Workplace survey of HR professionals released by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Almost all survey respondents, 94%, said their organization has a formal, written substance use policy.

Of respondents whose organizations have operations in states where both recreational and medical use are legal, 82% said they have zero tolerance for use while working — marijuana use is not permitted for any reason; 11% said exceptions are made for medical use, but restrictions might apply.

“While marijuana use is legal in some states, it remains illegal under federal law,” said Evren Esen, SHRM’s director of survey programs. “Substance use, disciplinary and hiring policies are all influenced by employers’ limited tolerance of marijuana use.”

More than one-third of respondents said employees at their organizations violated marijuana use policies in the past 12 months, with 4% of those respondents saying they had more than 10 violations during that time.

Most substance use policies include consequences for vviolations. For a first-time violation of marijuana use policies, termination was the most frequent action taken, cited by 50% of respondents in states where medical marijuana is legal and 41% of respondents whose organizations have operations in locations where both recreational and medical marijuana are legal. 

Under federal and most state laws, employers can refuse to hire marijuana users. In states where recreational use is legal, 44% of respondents said they do not hire recreational users.

The Policies for Marijuana Use in the Workplace survey results also found:

• About one-half of respondents said their organizations conduct pre-employment drug testing for marijuana use for all job candidates, primarily after extending a contingent job offer. About two-fifths of respondents said their employees could be tested for marijuana use when circumstances warrant it, and more than one-quarter of respondents said all employees could be tested at any time during their employment.
• 29% of respondents in locations where recreational and medical marijuana use are legal said they had modified their substance use policy since legalization; 37% indicated that their policy is now more restrictive in the disciplinary action taken for marijuana use.

“HR professionals in states where marijuana is legal for both recreational and medical use tended to have stricter policies in place than those where only medical marijuana is legal,” Esen said.

SHRM in October polled 623 randomly selected HR professionals in 19 states where medical marijuana is legal and four states and the District of Columbia where medical and recreational use are legal.