SB 700: Employment discrimination: cannabis use.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits various forms of employment discrimination and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. Existing law, on and after January 1, 2024, makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment, or otherwise penalize a person because of the persons use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace, except as specified.

This bill would make it unlawful for an employer to request information from an applicant for employment relating to the applicants prior use of cannabis, as specified. Under the bill, information about a persons prior cannabis use obtained from the persons criminal history would be exempt from the above-described existing law and bill provisions relating to prior cannabis use if the employer is permitted to consider or inquire about that information under a specified provision of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or other state or federal law.