According to a survey from Denver-based Employers Council, testing positive for marijuana won’t get you fired at over half the companies in Colorado.
The survey revealed that more Colorado employers are relaxing their marijuana testing policies.
Only 48 percent of Colorado companies with “well-defined” drug testing policies will fire a worker for a first-time positive test for pot, reported Employers Council last fall. In 2014 this number was 53%.
There were 636 companies that took part in the survey in November but out of those, only 371 organizations claimed to have “well-defined” drug testing policies they could speak to.
“A lot of companies began testing for the first time (in 2014), but it seems like it has calmed down a lot since then because the sky has not actually fallen,” stated Curtis Graves, an attorney with the Employers Council. “Pre-employment drug testing seems to be down across the board but particularly for marijuana.”
“What we’re seeing here is basically its a nonissue,” Graves said.
According to Graves, more Colorado companies are relaxing their rules due to the state’s unemployment rate that has remained consistently near historic lows for the last few years.
“Clearly, the low unemployment is impacting people’s ability to say, ‘Hey, we’re zero tolerance,’ ” Graves explained. “They just won’t be able to staff the position.”
