The Act modifies the legislative framework created by Question 1, the voter referendum passed in November 2016, which first legalized recreational marijuana in Maine and prohibited employers from taking actions against applicants based on off-duty marijuana use.
Most significantly, the Act scrapped the anti-discrimination provision from Question 1, so it no longer expressly prohibits employers from refusing to employ persons who use recreational marijuana outside of work. Instead, the Act states that employers "are not required to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, trade, display, transportation, sale or cultivation of marijuana or marijuana in the workplace" and allows employers to "enact and enforce workplace policies" restricting marijuana use "in the workplace or while otherwise engaged in activities within the course and scope of employment."
The full text of the Marijuana Legalization Act can be found here.
Source: Pierce Atwood LLP
Posted: June 19, 2018