D.C. passes law banning companies from firing workers for marijuana use

Non-public organizations in D.C. will not be allowed to hearth personnel who exam good for marijuana use, under a regulation handed by the D.C. Council on Tuesday that now heads to the desk of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for her signature.

Recreational marijuana use has been legal in the District because a 2014 ballot initiative, and council customers explained they imagine no employee should be fired for using a legal material.

The new regulation tends to make exceptions, having said that, for staff in “safety-sensitive careers,” like operators of large equipment, development workers, police and protection guards who carry weapons and medical industry experts. Even though the District currently produced protections for city staff who use cannabis, the District’s government are not able to bar the federal govt from disciplining federal staff members for marijuana use.

The council famous a report from the American Dependancy Facilities that discovered govt employment ended up most most likely to have to have drug checks from personnel — most likely blunting the affect of the legislation, which was introduced by Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8).

Nevertheless, council users reported the community legislation would safeguard some personnel, specially folks of coloration. They pointed to a 2013 Yale examine that observed 63 % of Black employees have work opportunities that perform drug testing, in contrast with 46 per cent of White workers.

At Tuesday’s legislative assembly, the council also argued around in which to draw the boundaries for D.C.’s most micro amount of nearby governance, advisory neighborhood commissions, which will have to be revised when a ten years.

Residents of Cleveland Park had objected to a program to divide their community throughout two commissions. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) convened a modern meeting attended by more than 100 residents who largely opposed the proposed map, and Mendelson attempted to introduce a new map Tuesday that would have bundled numerous of those people attendees’ requests.

But Ward 3 Council member Mary M. Cheh (D), who represents the place, and at-big member Elissa Silverman (I), who chaired the redistricting committee, fiercely objected to Mendelson’s revision of the redistricting committee’s map, which was crafted about months of group conferences. Cheh referred to Mendelson’s actions as “highhanded and basically anti-democratic.”

Mendelson argued that the tight timeline from the delayed 2020 Census by means of the redistricting course of action gave him little choice but to get concerned, with just days remaining to amend the boundaries. “It provides criticism on the council to say that this is past-minute, as if there was yet another likelihood,” he said.

The council sided with Cheh and Silverman, voting 10 to 3 in favor of their suggestion for the Ward 3 neighborhood boundaries.