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Cannabis Use Doesn’t Disqualify Unemployment Benefits Access

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Cannabis Use Doesn’t Disqualify Unemployment Benefits Access

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessell, D, wrote an amicus curiae, or a statement, on August 9, defending three former employees. They became terminated for personal cannabis use off the clock. In all three cases, employees could lose access to their unemployment benefits because they received a pink slip over recreational cannabis. However, these employees consumed legal cannabis off the clock. They also were nowhere near their employer’s property. Finally, their cannabis use did not impair them as an employee during their work hours. 

However, Michigan is an ‘at will’ state, meaning that an employee can be fired at any time for any reason. These wrongful termination lawsuits don’t ask for a change in the “at will” stance. They ask for unemployment benefits for something they did legally and in their own time.  

“The people spoke loud and clear when they voted in 2018 to legalize marijuana once and for all,” Attorney General Nessel said. “Nobody over 21 can be penalized or denied any right or privilege solely for legally using marijuana, and employers cannot control their employees’ private lives by calling the legal use of marijuana outside of work hours ‘misconduct’.” 

Michigan Law

Michigan residents lose their unemployment benefits under state law if they lose their job over a positive drug test. Attorney General Nessel doesn’t argue this point. However, in her amicus curiae, she argues that a positive cannabis drug test isn’t actually a “drug test” at all. The state’s law defines a drug test for “illegal use” of a drug, such as cocaine or heroin. However, voters legalized cannabis use for adults over 21 back in 2018. 

Personal use of cannabis off the clock and away from work doesn’t interfere with an employee’s work performance. A positive drug test for cannabis also doesn’t interfere with an employee’s ability to work. Therefore, employees fired over personal cannabis use shouldn’t be disqualified from unemployment, all according to Attorney General Nessel

“Employers cannot use a code of acceptable conduct to avoid paying unemployment benefits to workers who, on their own time, engage in legal behavior the employer simply does not like,” the amicus curiae stated

“The People reserved for themselves the personal freedom to consume and cultivate marijuana,” the Attorney General concluded, “and the State cannot deprive an individual of unemployment benefits for simply engaging in this legal activity.”

Future

Cannabis users are safe for now from being disqualified from unemployment benefits for personal use. They have the state’s Attorney General on their side. Should a Michigan resident consume recreational cannabis on the clock, at their site of employment, or allow it to interfere with their work performance, they cannot receive unemployment benefits should they become unemployed for those reasons. 

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