Rules around cannabis and the workplace have not changed although cannabis is now legal.
Cannabis in the Workplace
Prior to federal and provincial legislation coming into force, employers should clearly communicate to all employees their expectations about cannabis use and the workplace. They should review their workplace policies and make appropriate amendments to ensure acceptable work practices and behaviours continue.
Responsibilities of Employers
It’s important to remember there are a variety of factors that can cause impairment at work. Substance use is one cause. Other causes include stress, fatigue, malnourishment, shift work, and bullying. In every case of workplace impairment, the most important responsibility is to ensure people are safe. That responsibility is shared by workers and employers.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety has developed several resources that may be useful:
- Workplace Strategies: Risks of Impairment from Cannabis: strategies for addressing the risk of cannabis impairment in the workplace, including a sample workplace impairment policy.
- Impairment and Cannabis in the Workplace: an affordable e-course on managing impairment in the workplace.
- Impairment at Work fact sheet.
Additional Requirements for High-Hazard Workplaces
Impairment policies are especially important for prescribed places of employment and high-hazard work, such as mining. Saskatchewan’s mining regulations place the onus on employers to take all reasonable steps to prohibit substance impairment in mining industry workplaces.
All employees have a responsibility to protect their own safety and the safety of others. That means workers are expected to speak up if something is impairing their judgment. It’s particularly important for workers whose impairment could compromise the safety of others.
Accommodating Workers Using Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana has been available for nearly two decades and must be authorized by a doctor. Employers will continue to accommodate workers with an authorization from a doctor. Workers cannot decide for themselves that cannabis helps them deal with a health condition.
Employees involved in high-hazard work (such as driving or operating heavy machinery) have a general duty to advise their employer if they’ve been prescribed a medication with side effects that include impairment.
Random Testing for Impairment
Some industries can test for impairment in the United States but not in Canada. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes protection from unreasonable search and seizure. That means employers must have a reasonable suspicion an employee is impaired before they can request a drug or alcohol test.
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission Drug & Alcohol Testing – a General Guide has general guidelines related to human rights law for drug and alcohol testing in Saskatchewan.
Responsibilities of Workers
Laws for Workplace Impairment
The Government is seeking input on possible amendments to clarify the duty of employees to disclose any form of impairment and the duty of employers to accommodate workers that have made a disclosure.
Source: Saskatchewan.ca