In March 2021, the law finally caught up with reality, and New York State legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Millions of New Yorkers had been smoking pot for decades; finally, they could do so without fear.
The bill that provided for the legalization of pot also amended New York Labor Law, making it illegal to refuse to hire a job applicant, or to fire an employee, based on their recreational use of marijuana. In other words, in New York State your boss cannot make you take a drug test and then fire you if it comes back positive for marijuana.
Despite this new law, many corporations in New York have refused to keep up with the times. Across the city and state, employers continue to insist that job applicants take drug tests—and continue to reject applicants who come back positive for having smoked marijuana.
In the summer of 2021, our client applied for work at a check cashing company. She interviewed, and her interviewers loved her—but they refused to hire her when her drug test came back positive for marijuana, a drug in which she had every legal right to smoke. When she objected, the company doubled down. That is when our client did some digging and realized she might have a case against this illegal behavior. That is when she hired Granovsky & Sundaresh.
Our team promptly filed a class action lawsuit and immediately learned that our client was just one of many people this employer had refused to hire in New York City due to “failed” drug tests. Our advocacy forced the company to look at each and every one of those rejected job applicants and offer them the jobs they should have rightfully been offered to begin with.