'One-strike' pot-test rule for job hopefuls OKd [View All]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

An employer can refuse to hire someone who has ever tested positive for marijuana or other drugs, even if the applicant is now clean and sober, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the "one-strike" rule of the Pacific Maritime Association, which controls hiring in the West Coast longshore industry, doesn't discriminate against rehabilitated addicts in violation of disability laws.

The rule "imposes a harsh penalty on applicants who test positive," and may seem unreasonable because many drug and alcohol users recover, the court said. But it said the maritime association had adopted the rule for safety purposes and did not single out former addicts.

A lawyer for a man who lost a chance for a longshore job because he had tested positive for marijuana seven years earlier said she knows of no other employer, including law enforcement and the armed services, that permanently bars applicants because of a single positive drug test.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/02/BALI1I2HEN.DTL&tsp=1