1. (1) Nothing in this chapter shall:

   1. (a) Require an employer to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, distribution, sale, or growing of medicinal cannabis in the workplace;
   2. (b) Prohibit an employer from implementing policies promoting workplace health and safety by: 1. Restricting the use of medicinal cannabis by employees; or 2. Restricting or prohibiting the use of equipment, machinery, or power tools by an employee who is a registered qualified patient, if the employer believes that the use of such equipment, machinery, or power tools by an employee who is a registered qualified patient poses an unreasonable safety risk;
   3. (c) Prohibit an employer from including in any contract provisions that prohibit the use of medicinal cannabis by employees;
   4. (d) Permit a cause of action against an employer for wrongful discharge or discrimination;
   5. (e) Except as provided in KRS 218B.045, prohibit a person, employer, corporation, or any other entity who occupies, owns, or controls a property from prohibiting or otherwise regulating the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale, or growing of medicinal cannabis on or in that property;
   6. (f) Prohibit an employer from establishing and enforcing a drug testing policy, drug-free workplace, or zero-tolerance drug policy; or
   7. (g) Prohibit an employer from exercising his or her ability to determine impairment of an employee who is a cardholder. Good faith determinations of impairment permitted under include behavioral assessments of impairment and a secondary step of testing an employee who is a cardholder for the presence of cannabis by an established method. If an employer determines, pursuant to KRS 218B.015(2)(c), that an employee who is a cardholder is impaired by the use of cannabis from the behavioral assessment and testing, the burden of proving non-impairment shall shift to the employee to refute the findings of the employer. this paragraph shall
2. (2) An employee who is discharged from employment for consuming medicinal cannabis in the workplace, working while under the influence of medicinal cannabis, or testing positive for a controlled substance shall not be eligible to receive benefits under KRS Chapter 341, if such actions are in violation of an employment contract or established personnel policy.
3. (3) An employer shall not be penalized or denied any benefit under state law for employing a cardholder.

Effective: January 1, 2025

History: Created 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 146, sec. 7, effective January 1, 2025.