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ComplianceHR offers the only on-demand suite of intelligent compliance applications focused on helping companies address ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements.
Littler Edge is designed to help you with your employment and labor law compliance efforts by providing access to the best of Littler’s collective knowledge and experience, all in one location.
Immediately download a selection of Littler’s self-service toolkits, which offer a selection of documents, guides, forms and policy templates developed by our attorneys.
Littler CaseSmart isn’t simply a tool or product – it’s a way of operating. A different and smarter approach to delivering legal services that helps you stay ahead.
Littler onDemand is a technology-based platform that provides answers to workplace legal questions and critical data analytics.
Customized training solutions to ensure your managers, supervisors and human resources professionals are equipped to handle the employment and labor issues that arise in their daily responsibilities.
As the government relations and public policy arm of Littler, WPI focuses on defining and shaping workplace policy at the international, national and local levels.
We know labor and employment law—it’s all we do.
Littler’s insights provide up-to-date news on regulatory changes and legislative developments that impact workplace policies and practices, with in-depth analysis to help clients navigate complex employment issues and ensure compliance.
Read, watch and listen to Littler’s analysis of compliance challenges, legal trends, and new laws and regulations.
Littler events give employers the opportunity to explore the latest legal issues affecting the workplace today and provide tools to prepare for what’s next.
The latest news releases and media coverage featuring insights from Littler attorneys, and highlights of the firm in the press.
Featured Topics
A Singular Focus on Labor and Employment Law
We know labor and employment law because it’s all we do. From everyday questions to complex litigation, from local concerns to global issues, we have solutions.
Littler combines the latest in legal innovation, a global network, and more than 80 years of institutional knowledge to deliver legal strategies and solutions for employers of all sizes, everywhere.
From our very first days as a law firm, we’ve believed that a culture that prioritizes inclusivity leads to better outcomes – for both us and our clients.
At Littler, innovation is what happens behind the scenes, fueled by the talent and drive of our incredible people, that acts as the starting point for it all.
Knowledge Management at Littler connects our attorneys and clients to the collective knowledge and insights of our experienced team worldwide.
Working at Littler means collaborating with kind, supportive, and intelligent colleagues across the globe. Littler is looking for the best and brightest to join our ever-growing and thriving team.
At Littler, we believe in making a positive impact beyond the courtroom. Our commitment to social responsibility is woven into the fabric of our firm, guiding our actions and decisions every day.
Littler’s 2025 Inclusion, Equity & Diversity Annual Report
The report showcases how Littler continues to advance inclusion, equity and belonging through meaningful initiatives across the firm and in the communities it serves.
ASAP
By Nancy North Delogu and Jen Chierek Znosko
With the stroke of a pen, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a new “final order” on April 23, 2026, that reclassifies FDA-approved medications that contain marijuana and marijuana products authorized pursuant to a state medical marijuana program as Schedule III controlled substances and makes them available by prescription, immediately. Any form of marijuana other than as found in an FDA-approved drug product or marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license continues to be illegal to use or possess as a matter of federal law, at least for now, meaning that any recreational use of marijuana falls outside of this order and is not protected.
The final order, partially named “Rescheduling of Food and Drug Administration Approved Products Containing Marijuana and Products Containing Marijuana Subject to a Qualifying State-issued License from Schedule I to Schedule III,” requires state-licensed medical marijuana entities to submit their state credentials to the DEA for registration in the federal system and promises review of any such licenses submitted for approval within the next six months.1 Prescribers and pharmacists who fill prescriptions will need to meet DEA requirements for the proper prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances, but researchers will be allowed to obtain marijuana from state sources for study. The final order specifically states that it does not legalize the use of marijuana for recreational purposes, and synthetically obtained or derivative marijuana products (such as Delta-10 THC) remain outside the protections of the final order.
This regulatory change addresses moving only certain marijuana products and derivatives from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act – a schedule, or classification, that states that marijuana is a highly addictive substance with no known medical use – to Schedule III – a classification that acknowledges that while the covered substances are subject to abuse and harm, they have medical value and may be helpful if taken under the supervision of a licensed medical professional. And, while the final order acknowledges that marijuana use can lead to both physical and psychological dependence, it concludes that the likelihood of serious health outcomes is low relative to other drugs of abuse placed on Schedules I and II of the Controlled Substances Act.
The new order, long-awaited by the marijuana industry, which also will see immediate tax relief as a result, is not without controversy. Despite President Trump’s December 2025 executive order directing the Department of Justice to move forward swiftly to reclassify marijuana, at least 20 Republican Senators are on record as opposing the rescheduling, and some states – most notably, Oklahoma – have recently rolled back state employment protections for medical marijuana users. A hearing at which the public may be heard on any issues or objections related to the rescheduling of marijuana and marijuana products is scheduled to be held in Arlington, Virginia, starting on June 29, 2026.
Workplace Impacts
The final order rescheduling marijuana and marijuana products does not, on its face, address any potential workplace impact. As a practical matter, however, impacts may be substantial, at least in states with medical marijuana programs with broad application. Many more individuals will be authorized to use marijuana for medical reasons in a manner that complies with federal law than do now. Presently, a relatively small number of individuals have prescriptions for drugs like dronabinol (Marinol or Syndros) or Epidolex, FDA-approved prescription medications approved to treat specific medical conditions. Adding state-approved medical marijuana “certifications” – until today, legally not prescriptions – means that roughly six million more marijuana users will be able to present evidence of their state medical marijuana approvals to explain positive drug tests and request workplace accommodations. (Qualifying state medical marijuana certifications or state-accepted authorization documents must include the user’s name and address, be dated and signed on the day of issuance, and identify the issuing practitioner by name, address, and state license number of the practitioner authorized to do so under state law.)
It is also unclear at this time how the change will impact the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) implementation of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, which includes marijuana on the list of “prohibited drugs” for which regulated employers must test their workforce. Although the use of marijuana for other than medical purposes remains illegal, and therefore testing for this group presumably will continue, employers may need to accept the medical use of marijuana by regulated transportation workers who are not also subject to medical qualification requirements. For example, FMCSA-regulated drivers are already prohibited from using any medication, even by prescription, that may cause impairment absent approval from a certified medical examiner, and so it is unlikely that medical marijuana users will be wholesale authorized to use marijuana and also meet medical qualifications. In contrast, most individuals subject to drug and alcohol testing under Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s mandatory marijuana testing rules are typically not subject to independent medical qualification standards. (Nervous flyers may be reassured to know there are independent medical qualification standards for pilots.)
Next Steps
Employers certainly may continue to prohibit individuals from working while impaired, and to impose workplace rules prohibiting the use and possession of marijuana and marijuana products for other than medical reasons by their workers. Prepare for questions and accommodation requests. Nevertheless, this rule change may create more questions than it answers, at least for now. In the coming days and weeks, employers should be prepared to field questions about the impact of the rule change on their current policies. Employers should also reexamine, and where necessary revise, those policies to ensure that they are administered in accordance with these changes.
See Footnotes
1 The order applies to marijuana as defined in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), marijuana extracts, and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and other compounds derived from the marijuana plant (other than the mature stalks and seeds) that falls outside the definition of hemp, to the extent that any of these are included in the FDA-approved drug product or are subject to a state-issued license to manufacture, distribute, and/or dispense marijuana or products containing marijuana for medical purposes (“state medical marijuana license”).
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