Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1005965
Marijuana: HR Policy Issues for the Portable Sanitation Industry KOS POT CONT INUED FROM PAGE 10 As mentioned earlier, your company may also be subject to laws that apply to the customers you serve. Portable sanitation companies with accounts covering federal installations such as military bases and nuclear power plants, areas of high security such as airports and schools, or sites of hazardous work such as mines, are often required to meet the same legal requirements as their customers in order to do business with them. Educate yourself about all of this before you create or update your policy. Whenever possible, consult an employment law attorney in your state. She or he probably already has such a policy on file in "boiler plate" format that you can customize. If there is a trucking association spec ific to your state, that group may also be a terrific resource for a sample boilerplate policy that you can use as the basis for your own. Existing portable sanitation company policies vary . The PSAI reached out to company leaders in several states with varying degrees of legal marijuana use and asked to review their drug and alcohol policies. While some did not respond to our request, we ultimately had information from eight companies of varying sizes operating in around 25 states to compare. About half of the firms are subject to FMCSRs and half are operating smaller trucks in a single state. Here's what we found: CONTIN UED ON PAGE 12 P AGE 11 W EEKLY EDITION JULY 18, 2018 D o I n e e d a z e ro to l e ra n c e p o l ic y ? There is no one - size - fits - all answer to the question of whether you need a zero t olerance policy. While you must have and enforce one if your company is subject to FMCSRs or other customer requirements, there are things to consider. Think about whether zero tolerance makes sense in light of your employee recruitment and retention goals . Ask whether zero tolerance will conflict with your ability to comply with other laws that apply to your company. For example, some states (e.g., Maine) prohibit employers from firing workers for the first failed drug test; instead, employees must be give n the chance to complete a rehab program. You'll need to know if a law like this applies in your state and how that affects your hiring and firing decisions.