HB4478 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 18611 CPF 68066 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB4478

Introduced 2/4/2020, by Rep. Bob Morgan

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

410 ILCS 130/50

Amends the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act. In provisions regarding employment and employer liability: (1) replaces references to "employees" with "registered qualifying patients"; and (2) provides that nothing in the Act prohibits an employer from adopting a reasonable policy (rather than regulations) concerning, among other things, the use of medical cannabis by registered qualifying patients (rather than timekeeping requirements for them). Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act is amended by changing Section 50 as follows:

(410 ILCS 130/50)

Sec. 50. Employment; employer liability.

(a) Nothing in this Act shall prohibit an employer from adopting reasonable policy regulations concerning the consumption, storage, or use of medical cannabis by registered timekeeping requirements for qualifying patients related to the use of medical cannabis.

(b) Nothing in this Act shall prohibit an employer from enforcing a policy concerning drug testing, zero-tolerance, or a drug free workplace provided the policy is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner.

(c) Nothing in this Act shall limit an employer from disciplining a registered qualifying patient for violating a workplace drug policy.

(d) Nothing in this Act shall limit an employer's ability to discipline a registered qualifying patient an employee for failing a drug test if failing to do so would put the employer in violation of federal law or cause it to lose a federal contract or funding.

(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to create a defense for a third party who fails a drug test.

(f) An employer may consider a registered qualifying patient to be impaired when the registered qualifying patient he or she manifests specific, articulable symptoms while working that decrease or lessen the registered qualifying patient's his or her performance of the duties or tasks of the registered qualifying patient's employee's job position, including symptoms of the registered qualifying patient's employee's speech, physical dexterity, agility, coordination, demeanor, irrational or unusual behavior, negligence or carelessness in operating equipment or machinery, disregard for the safety of the registered qualifying patient employee or others, or involvement in an accident that results in serious damage to equipment or property, disruption of a production or manufacturing process, or carelessness that results in any injury to the registered qualifying patient employee or others. If an employer elects to discipline a registered qualifying patient under this subsection, it must afford the registered qualifying patient employee a reasonable opportunity to contest the basis of the determination.

(g) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to create or imply a cause of action for any person against an employer for: (1) actions based on the employer's good faith belief that a registered qualifying patient used or possessed cannabis while on the employer's premises or during the hours of employment; (2) actions based on the employer's good faith belief that a registered qualifying patient was impaired while working on the employer's premises during the hours of employment; (3) injury or loss to a third party if the employer neither knew nor had reason to know that the registered qualifying patient employee was impaired.

(h) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to interfere with any federal restrictions on employment including but not limited to the United States Department of Transportation regulation 49 CFR 40.151(e).

(Source: P.A. 98-122, eff. 1-1-14.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.