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Can employers test employees for THC when new laws take effect?
Employment lawyers say they are busy answering questions about Minnesota’s new marijuana policy.
MINNEAPOLIS — Employment lawyers say they’re busy answering questions from employers on updating marijuana testing policies for workers.
Those fielding the questions include lawyers like David Waytz, a shareholder with Fredrikson and Byron.
“Companies are thinking whether it’s worth it to worry about cannabis testing,” he said. “You still can’t go to work impaired by cannabis; you can’t possess cannabis or use cannabis while you’re at work and while you’re on your employer’s premises. What’s changed is more protection for off-duty use.”
He said generally, employers can’t test their workers or prospective employees for THC as a condition of employment.
There are exceptions for jobs held to federal rules, as well as folks like firefighters, police officers, health care workers and teachers.
Another exception is for those in positions considered to be “safety sensitive.” That’s defined by law as a job in which “an impairment caused by drug, alcohol, or cannabis usage would threaten the health or safety of any person.” Those folks can still be required to test.
Anyone could be held to reasonable suspicion of cannabis testing if, for example, someone appears to be under the influence at work. Experts say they’d like to see more clarification on that rule.
“It’s difficult for employers who want to continue testing for cannabis to be able to distinguish between cannabis usage on the job that may have impaired somebody versus that cannabis usage that might have took place a week earlier or the night before,” said Waytz. “And so what I’m instructing my clients that are employers to do, is think very carefully about how you test for cannabis.”
Waytz said he has counseled his clients for years, even before marijuana was legalized, to focus on performance rather than testing someone for a drug.
“We’re getting a ton of questions,” said Lauryn Schothorst, the director of workplace management and workforce development policy at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
She said employers are scrambling to get clarification to ensure their policies are in compliance with the new law.
“Employers want to make sure they’re clear as to how their industry is classified, or their worksite,” said Schothorst. “You don’t want to inadvertently think you’re protected under a federal law or safety-sensitive position when you’re actually not pursuant to the law.”
Schothorst and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce have hosted presentations and webinars to answer questions about the issue. She recommends businesses familiarize themselves with the rules and release policy as soon as they can — and definitely before Aug. 1.
“As an employee, you should feel free to ask what will be changing as a result of the new law,” she said.
The problem lawyers and the Chamber say they’re facing is that the Office of Cannabis Management isn’t up and running yet, making it difficult for them to get further clarification.
“We’re sort of in a bit of a gray area right now with portions of the law,” said Schothorst. “It’s a lot of confusion as to what’s happening right now and what the law is for individuals and employers right now.”
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“Zara Frost” publishes a Substack newsletter that includes audio and video recordings that are not in the possession of any other news outlet — or Bock’s attorney.
MINNEAPOLIS — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in September 2024.
Aimee Bock, the former executive director of Feeding our Future and the top name associated with the $250 million pandemic child meal fraud case, is set to stand trial on Feb. 3.
But her lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, does not have access to materials he believes could exonerate Bock — despite those materials being cited in a series of posts on Substack — according to a motion filed by Udoibok on Wednesday.
The Substack newsletter “Nourishing Truth – Unpacking the Feeding Our Future Scandal” is written by Zara Frost. It is unclear whether that name is a pseudonym, whether Frost is a journalist, and whether Frost has connections to any of the 70 defendants charged in the sprawling case.
The general tone of the postings points blame away from Feeding Our Future defendants and back toward the Minnesota Department of Education, which was tasked with oversight of the federal child meal program during the pandemic.
One passage states, “The implications are clear. Either 1. MDE was catastrophically incompetent at its oversight duties, or 2. The department’s current narrative about early fraud concerns is, to put it politely, revisionist history.”
What is clear is that Frost’s 10 articles sent out to 16 subscribers as of Dec. 11 include details no other news outlet has published concerning the case, including audio recordings of conversations involving Hadith Ahmed, the former Feeding Our Future employee who agreed to plead guilty and help the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office with the case.
Those recordings were not used at the first trial involving Feeding our Future defendants earlier in 2024 despite the government using Ahmed as a key witness.
Udoibok believes the government has the recordings along with evidence concerning the reimbursement claims process from phones and tablets seized during the investigation that prosecutors did use in the first trial — but have not disclosed to Udoibok for Bock’s case.
“The withheld materials are crucial to Defendant’s defense as they provide insight into how Feeding Our Future’s claims were processed, which could exonerate Defendant by demonstrating that she did not oversee a fraudulent scheme. The Government’s failure to disclose these materials creates a reasonable probability that Defendant would not be able to mount an effective defense,” Udoibok wrote in his motion, claiming the prosecution is violating the Brady rule that requires disclosing all exculpatory evidence.
Bock and her co-defendants are due back in court Thursday for a status conference.
Zara Frost told KARE 11 News that the audio and video files were leaked to them, but has not yet answered a series of other questions.
St. Joseph’s Hospital’s doors closed this past spring, but a new group is looking at opening it back up to serve what it described as an urgent health need.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — Months after a hospital in western Wisconsin shut its doors, a cooperative is looking at opening it back up as a “bridge” as the group works to build a new hospital in the community.
St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls closed along with Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and Prevea clinics in the region this past spring. Both hospitals were owned and operated by the Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS).
In light of these closures, the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative formed, and is now planning to build a new hospital, which they say is slated to open in 2027. Before then, the group says they want to reopen St. Joseph’s so that patients can be taken “care of as fast as possible.”
“Since we started the Cooperative, we’ve been singularly focused on making high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for Chippewa Valley residents as fast as possible,” said Robert Krause, Chair of the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative, in a press release. “The new facility we’ve planned in Lake Hallie is fundamental to the long-term sustainability of the hospital. At the same time, if we can, reopening the St. Joseph’s facility in 2025 will help us serve patients faster and doesn’t impede our plans or ability to open the new hospital.”
A press release from the co-op states a letter of intent has been signed with HSHS to purchase and reopen the Chippewa Falls facility “to provide urgently needed healthcare services.” The co-op has until April to find out if reopening the hospital would be financially responsible. According to the co-op, St. Joseph’s “has significant deferred maintenance that may need to be addressed before the hospital can be reopened.”
“Once we understand whether reopening St. Joseph’s is possible, we will be in high gear to start caring for patients as fast as possible,” said Krause. “Then we will turn our attention to exploring other healthcare uses for the building once we’ve opened the new full-service hospital in Lake Hallie.”
RELATED: Laid off healthcare workers get community send-off ahead of hospital closures in western WI
When the hospitals and clinics closed in the region, more than 1,000 people lost their jobs, including 244 at St. Joseph’s.
The new hospital being planned by the co-op is anticipated to be a new 144,000-square-foot space with 48 hospital beds, 12 ICU beds, and Emergency Department, Medical-Surgical services, Labor & Delivery, critical care units, a comprehensive Cancer Center, and comprehensive diagnostic services, including laboratory, radiology, and cardiology services. The plan is to open the hospital in Lake Hallie, between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire.
The mayor called some of the appropriations approved by the council “ward-specific pet projects.”
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey approved the property tax levy for the city but vetoed the city council’s budget appropriations, calling some of what the council approved “ward-specific pet projects.”
Frey approved a property tax levy of 6.9%, down 1% from what the council approved Tuesday night and also down from the 8.3% he initially proposed, the highest increase in property taxes since 2010.
The city council took the mayor’s proposed budget and reduced raises for the 160 highest-paid city staff members, deferred the implementation of technology projects and delayed the purchase of an internal computer software package.
Council members had to vote on a record 74 amendments during a meeting that stretched on late into the night, passing 71 of them. Many of those amendments focused on public safety efforts in the city. Members voted to expand the city’s Behavioral Crisis Response and to fund five civilian investigators to be added to the police force to look into non-violent cases.
But on Wednesday, Mayor Frey said in a press release he was concerned with what he described as “fiscal irresponsibility,” saying the council’s proposed budget would add $6.53 million in new cash spending, “undermining the City’s financial health.”
“The Council’s budget increases property taxes for years to come,” said Mayor Frey in a press release. “It cuts essentials like unsheltered homelessness response and recruitment of police, then turns around and uses the money to fund pet projects. Fiscally, times are tight—federal funding will likely be withheld and state dollars are in short supply. We need to be responsible with our tax dollars.”
The mayor’s veto will go before the full council on Thursday, his office said in the press release. If the council sustains the veto, officials said negotiations on the budget will continue and steps will need to be taken to keep the city operating during that process.
Council President Elliott Payne responded to the mayor’s veto announcement:
“The fact that the Mayor is willing to veto the entire 2025 City budget because his co-equal branch of government made amendments that accounted for less than 2% of the total $1.88 billion City budget is absurd. Council Members learned of Mayor Frey’s intention to veto through a press release, before he even received the formal budget packet from the Clerk’s office at the time of his announcement. This is unfortunately part of a larger pattern of an unwillingness to work with the Legislative branch of the City. The fact that the Mayor is willing to risk the jobs of over 4,000 City employees and the reduction of basic City services in order to try and score political points is absolutely disheartening. The final budget was passed with 10 votes last night and 62 amendments passed with at least supermajority support. I will do everything in my power to work with my colleagues to overturn this reckless veto.”
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