The D.C. Council unanimously passed emergency legislation Tuesday that protects some prospective and current city employees from employment discrimination for being medical marijuana patients, though many of the workers facing blowback for their participation in the program aren’t covered under the measure.

The legislation comes after repeated instances in which city government employees were threatened or penalized for using medical cannabis when off the clock. (Even with the passage of this short-term bill, workers are not permitted to come to work intoxicated.) Emergency legislation only requires one council vote (rather than the normal two) and the mayor’s signature to become law, and lasts for no longer than 90 days.

Despite a D.C. Department of Human Resources rule that has allowed most D.C. government workers to take part in the medical marijuana program since 2016, Mayor Muriel Bowser does not ask city agencies to comply with that policy. District workers have been told that they cannot use medical marijuana as a treatment, despite a doctor’s prescription. The Department of Corrections “prohibits the use of marijuana by any of its employees,” including for medical purposes, per agency director Quincy Booth.

At the end of May, workers in the Department of Public Works who alerted the agency that they were medical marijuana patients received a memo: they had 30 days to work with their doctors to provide an alternate treatment for their medical conditions. It’s unclear what will happen to them if they are unable to find a different medication.

However, those DPW employees are among those who will not be covered by the emergency bill’s protections. At-large Councilmember David Grosso, who introduced the measure, expressed his disappointment at its limitations. Two weeks ago, Grosso withdrew emergency legislation that would have protected all city employees because he said he didn’t have the votes to pass it. The legislation that passed on Tuesday does not include “safety-sensitive” workers—a classification of employee that subjects a person to random drug testing.

Employees at the DOC and some at DPW are classified as safety sensitive because of some of their specific job duties. Safety-sensitive positions are defined as those in which a person’s job performance impacts the safety of themselves and others, like a motor vehicle operator or a law enforcement officer. The D.C. government has been in a years-long process of reclassifying its positions.

“I did not want to make that change, but it was clear the legislation did not have the necessary support otherwise,” Grosso said from the dais on Tuesday, saying this 90-day measure would “mean a great deal to workers in other positions.”

Grosso has also introduced a permanent version of the bill, the Medical Marijuana Program Patient Employment Protection Amendment Act of 2019, which eight other councilmembers already support.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. is not waiting for the passage of legislation. In a letter to the Department of Public Works, ACLU attorney Michael Perloff writes that DPW under law must provide a reasonable accommodation for his client, Phillip Hedgeman, a worker with a registered medical marijuana card who was told he had 30 days to find a new treatment for his chronic back pain.

Unless the agency responds to a series of questions before June 20, “we will assume that you will not be granting Mr. Hedgeman’s request and we will proceed to file suit to enforce Mr. Hedgeman’s rights under D.C. law,” Perloff writes.

Previously:
Some City Employees Receive Ultimatum: Find Alternative To Medical Marijuana In 30 Days … Or Else
These City Workers Were Told They’d Lose Their Jobs If They Used Medical Marijuana