How will Nevada drug testing laws in 2022 affect pre-employment drug testing procedures and how should employers prepare to defend against potential civil lawsuits, and more. While Assembly Bill 132 prohibits most employers from turning down prospective employees who test positive for marijuana, things haven’t changed. In addition to the requirement to eliminate marijuana from all pre-employment drug tests in January 2020, there were no legal laws in the state of Nevada governing a drug-free workplace policy. The new Nevada state law went into effect January 1, 2020.
Beginning January 1, 2020, Nevada will no longer allow pre-employment drug testing for marijuana use. Beginning January 1, 2020, new legislation in Nevada will require employers to carefully consider whether and which candidates should be tested for marijuana. Effective January 1, 2020, Nevada became the first state to ban most employers from using pre-employment marijuana tests. Before new legislation in Nevada goes into effect, Nevada employers must evaluate their approach to pre-employment marijuana testing, assess risk tolerance, and evaluate structural changes to any existing or anticipated marijuana testing program.
Employers in Nevada may wish to review and review changes to testing protocols for applicants, new hires within the first 30 days, and long-term employees. Employers with valid employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements should consider the need for flexible language regarding cannabis testing and negative actions. Employers can still enforce drug-free workplace policies, and employees can be held accountable for violations. In most cases, state and local laws determine whether employers can screen employees and drug applicants.
While many states have passed laws that regulate or restrict employers’ right to request drug testing, Nevada is not one of them. When it comes to the ATI drug testing Las Vegas is subject to, despite legalization, Nevada employers still reserved the right to leave marijuana in drug tests at their company, but until June of last year. Although Nevada citizens can legally consume cannabis products, many are still not allowed to work by their employers. Although the law officially protects those who use marijuana, employers can still easily evade the issue by turning down applicants for reasons other than marijuana use.
The law, which is likely to go into effect early next year, makes it illegal for any employer to ban a candidate from working for their company if they fail a cannabis test. AB 132 basically states that an employer cannot hire or refuse to hire a potential employee because the results of a drug screening test he or she has passed show the presence of marijuana. The result of this new law is a warning to employers who have regularly tried to make drug testing part of their screening process for potential employees. In practice, this new law provides that if an employer instructs an employee to take a screening test within the first 30 days of employment, the employee may take another test to disprove the results of the original test.
The new rules require employees to challenge the results of tests taken within 30 days of entry and provide evidence of secondary analysis. The new law will also make it easier for workers to question their employer’s drug test results.
