On October 17, the federal government legalized recreational
marijuana use. At the same time, Ontario's provincial
government enacted the Cannabis Act and amended
related legislation.
Employers are rightly concerned about the possible impacts on
the workplace. We received several insightful, widely applicable
questions during the Q&A session at the end of our October
17th Webinar on the subject.
We have curated a collection of those questions, with our
answers below.
You can view a replay of the webinar in our Media
Centre.
Q: What are "safety sensitive positions" for the
purposes of drug and alcohol abuse policies?
A: "Safety sensitive" is not a term that is defined in
any law but is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Some safety
sensitive positions are apparent, such as working with heavy
equipment that could cause serious injury or death. In addition,
some workplaces, such as mines, are so inherently hazardous that
almost every position could reasonably
