As Pennsylvania lawmakers revive a push to legalize marijuana in the state, local legislators in Pittsburgh have unanimously approved an ordinance banning many employers in the city from discriminating against registered medical cannabis patients.
The Pittsburgh City Council passed the measure on Tuesday, preventing employers from testing workers who are medical cannabis patients for THC as a condition of employment and broadly incorporating patients into the city’s existing anti-discrimination code for workers—with some notable exceptions.
Employers in the city can no longer “discriminate in hiring or employment against any employee or prospective employee because of the individual’s lawful status as a medical marijuana patient, including by requiring pre-employment testing for marijuana and such testing during the course of employment as a condition of the employee’s employment,” the text of the ordinance says.
There are exemptions to the rule, however. Workers with the state or federal transportation department and those who must carry firearms as part of their job can still be tested and penalized if they test positive, for example.
Controversially, the measure also carves out an exemption to the reform for workers who are part of collective bargaining agreements with their employer—a change that was opposed by the ordinances
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