Revised medical marijuana labor protection bill advances in Pittsburgh City Council

Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval to a bill that would strengthen legal protections for medical marijuana users in the city — but it added an amendment that carves out an exception for the construction industry.

The bill, sponsored by Councilor Barb Warwick, would make medical marijuana users a protected class in the city. It would specify that it is discriminatory to routinely test medical marijuana patients for marijuana as a condition of being hired for or retaining most jobs.

“This law really underscores and calls out pre-employment drug testing for marijuana, and random drug testing for marijuana, of medical marijuana patients, to be discriminatory,” said Warwick in council on Wednesday.

While the measure would prohibit routine marijuana testing in most cases, it would not prevent drug testing after a workplace accident or for workers who are suspected of being impaired. It also would allow drug testing for employees in higher-risk jobs, like those who carry a firearm or whose job requires a commercial drivers license.

Council added another exemption on Wednesday, led by Anthony Coghill.

Coghill sought to exclude applicants whose prospective employer is under a collective bargaining agreement that addresses pre-employment drug tests. That would apply to many construction sites with union workers.

“[For] our men and women who built our skyscrapers and bridges and everything else, safety is paramount. It's their number-one concern,” Coghill said after the meeting. “Any time we put a bill or we put something in where it alters their hiring practices, it's dangerous. They don't want to have to have that liability.”

Coghill owns a non-union roofing business that he said wouldn’t be affected by the amendment, but added that he stresses safety for his workers. He said his amendment was modeled after the policies in cities like Philadelphia. He said he supported Warwick’s original version of the bill before he realized there could be complications for the construction industry.

Some cheered the move, with a few representatives from the industry speaking in support of Coghill’s amendment during council’s public-comment session.

“Safety is first, and testing protocols are in place to ensure a safe workplace,” said Brandon Mendoza, director of public and government affairs at the Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania. He said the construction industry is “safety-sensitive,” and emphasized how construction jobs require attention to detail and split-second decision-making.

But Warwick raised concerns that construction workers who are prescribed medical marijuana could have to choose between their medication and their job. She offered a scaled-down exemption, which would exclude employment agencies and labor unions from the ban, but still include employers. She said that would put the focus on employers who are discriminating, while making sure not to burden specific unions.

Coghill’s amendment was approved 8-1, with Warwick the only “no” vote. Her amendment was defeated narrowly 4-5. But she joined her colleagues in approving the full bill, which now awaits a vote for final approval likely to come next week.

“I’m obviously very disappointed that our workers under collective bargaining agreements have been excluded,” Warwick said. “I think it's unfortunate.”

But she said that the measure “still adds medical marijuana patients to the protected class and provides recourse for employees who are being discriminated against, medical marijuana patients who are being discriminated against.”

The bill would give the responsibility of enforcing discrimination complaints about medical marijuana to the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. But Warwick said that even if the city’s testing ban had been scaled back, medical marijuana is legal in the state — and other forms of discrimination are against the law.

“Even if this bill sort of excludes you from coming to the Commission on Human Relations,” she said, “there are other options out there.”