Nevada Passes New Drug Testing Law for Employers/Employees

Nevada lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 132, which prohibits an employer from denying someone employment due to a positive THC result on a pre-employment drug test. There are a few industries and jobs that remain exceptions to this rule. The bill, however, does not protect potential employees once they’re hired.

Employers can still maintain drug-free workplace rules and can maintain policies prohibiting the use of marijuana and other substances, USA Today reported. The thing about Assembly Bill 132 is that there’s a gray area that remains. The law says that an employer can define what types of job require a “clean” drug test for “safety purposes.”

The jobs where positive THC results can still deny you employment include:

• Driving jobs (even taxi drivers, any job that requires the operation of a vehicle for an employer)
• EMTs
• Firefighters
• Other medical care providers
• Safety-based jobs

Here’s another twist – new hires can take another drug screening on their own and submit that to their new employer. The employer has to accept the results of the new test. There are some exceptions here too, such as federal government jobs, jobs that require a bargaining agreement and those that have provisions already in place.

It’s not known whether lawmakers plan to clear up this gray area in the law or leave it as it is.