In this episode, RC Group Publisher Jill Bloom talks with RC Legal Insights Expert Trent Cotney, partner with Adams & Reese, about the controversy surrounding marijuana legalization and the workplace. As more and more states adopt recreational and medicinal laws permitting use, many employers are scratching their heads on what this means for jobsite safety and longstanding company policies on drug use.

Handling Weed in the Workplace

Trent Cotney, partner at Adams & Reese, shares insights on the challenges roofing contractors face regarding marijuana use, safety, insurance, and legal requirements. Contractors may need to reassess their policies, especially since insurance companies often dictate terms.

Cotney fields a lot of questions in regards to the law and one that he is asked about frequently is weed in the workplace. What are these questions?

The question surrounding marijuana and as it relates to the workplace started when some states began legalizing the drug for recreational or medicinal purposes. And as you started seeing these changes, Cotney says, employers in the construction industry have started to ask themselves how to deal with it from a safety/employment/drug-free perspective.

Regardless of sub-labor or not, skilled labor is still the biggest issue in construction. There’s been a resurgence in these questions as it’s an election year and every state is still trying to figure these issues out. For example, Florida voters will decide recreational use on the November ballot, and all signs point to it passing, he said.

“What I try to coach and talk to contractors about is that safety always trumps everything else,” Cotney said. “The first thing you want to do is make sure your supervisory staff, project managers, whoever is running a job, can adequately identify the signs of impairment. It would be the same as if they were drunk or on prescription painkillers. You make sure you’re running a safe work site—not only for the user but for the other workers there. Part of that is to make sure your supers and generals have adequate training and know how to identify the signs of use and how to deal with it. Always have two people issue any type of discipline to a worker who clearly is using.”