Virginia governor signs public sector medical pot employee protections

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday signed into law legislation that offers some public sector employees certain workplace protections regarding the use of medical marijuana.

The new law, which had been introduced as House Bill 149, prevents certain public sector employers from firing, disciplining or discriminating against employees’ lawful use of medical cannabis oil.

The law still allows employers to take disciplinary action against employees who are found to be impaired by marijuana while on the job.

According to the bill, law enforcement officers are not among those public sector workers offered these protections.

Employees who would be covered, however, are firefighters, emergency services providers and other civil servants, according to the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws, which in a statement called the law’s passage a “long overdue victory.”

Virginia law already offers workplace medical marijuana protections for private sector employees, according to NORML.