New Jersey Court Rules that Applicants and Employees Denied Employment Over Cannabis Test Can Sue Employer  

The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division last week ruled – for the first time – that applicants and employees that are denied employment based on a positive cannabis test can sue their employers for violations of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Market Modernization Act (CREAMMA), the National Law Review reports.  

The decision comes in the case of Darlene Sanders who, in December 2022, interviewed twice for a customer service representative position with Levari Group, LLC. Levari had offered Sanders the position, which she accepted, and required her to take a pre-employment drug test which included testing for the presence of cannabinoid metabolites. Sanders ultimately tested positive for cannabinoid metabolites which indicated she had consumed cannabis within the past 30 days. Sanders admitted to consuming cannabis for recreational purposes during that time but denied using cannabis on the day of the drug test, or when she applied to, and interviewed for, her position. 

The following month, Sanders contacted the company about her start date and was told she would have to submit a second drug test within a week at her own expense, which Sanders was unable to afford and caused Levari to rescind the job offer. 

Sanders sued under CREAMMA, which prohibits the denial of employment solely based on a positive cannabis test. In April 2024, the trial court dismissed her CREAMMA claim, finding that no private cause of action existed under CREAMMA, and found that Sanders’s remedy was through the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, not the courts.  

In her appeal, the three-judge panel of the Appellate Division reversed that decision and found CREAMMA implicitly grants a private right of action.