California drug testing laws for employers: pre-employment testing rules (2026)

California employers may still require job applicants to take a pre-employment drug test, and the state has no general drug testing statute for private employers. The firm limit is cannabis: since January 1, 2024, Government Code § 12954 bars employers with five or more employees from refusing to hire someone because of off-duty cannabis use or a test that finds only nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites, and from asking applicants about past cannabis use. Tests that detect psychoactive THC or other drugs, tests required by state or federal law (such as DOT testing), and jobs that need a federal security clearance fall outside those limits, as of October 2026.

California drug testing rules at a glance

Does California have a drug testing law for employers?

Not a general one. Unlike Minnesota or Vermont, California has no statute that tells private employers when they may test, which laboratory to use or what notice to give. The Civil Rights Department (CRD), which enforces the Fair Employment and Housing Act, answers the basic question directly in its January 2024 cannabis FAQ: employers "may still require all job applicants to take a drug screening test."

That leaves three things to get right: the cannabis rules in Government Code § 12954, the rules for any job where another law requires testing, and the ordinary discrimination rules. On the last point the CRD gives an example: requiring only applicants of a certain race or ethnicity to take drug tests violates the Act. Test everyone offered the same job the same way, and keep testing narrow: after a conditional offer, limited to the job's panel, with results kept away from the hiring team.

What can a California employer do with a positive marijuana test?

Adults 21 and older may lawfully possess cannabis in California under Health and Safety Code § 11362.1. Section 12954, operative January 1, 2024, makes it unlawful to discriminate "in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment" based on either of two things:

• the person's use of cannabis "off the job and away from the workplace"; or
• an employer-required drug screening test that found "nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites" in hair, blood, urine or other bodily fluids.

Metabolites versus psychoactive THC

The statute separates two kinds of result. The CRD explains that nonpsychoactive metabolites only show that a person used cannabis "at some point in the past," while "if, however, a scientifically valid drug screening test shows the presence of psychoactive THC, or other substances screened for pursuant to state or federal law, the employer may be allowed to deny someone a job on that basis." Section 12954(a)(1)(A) confirms that an employer may base hiring decisions on "scientifically valid preemployment drug screening conducted through methods that do not screen for nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites."

In practice that means asking your testing vendor, in writing, what its cannabis analyte is. A standard panel that reports the carboxy-THC metabolite tells you about past use, which you cannot act on for a covered job. If the vendor cannot offer a method aimed at psychoactive THC, the safer course for covered jobs is to drop cannabis from the panel.

Who is not covered

• Small employers. The CRD says the cannabis protections apply only to employers with five or more employees.
• Security-cleared jobs. Section 12954(f) excludes applicants and employees hired for positions that require a federal government background investigation or security clearance under 32 CFR Part 117 or equivalent rules.
• Building and construction trades. Section 12954(a)(2) says subdivision (a) "does not apply to an employee in the building and construction trades." The CRD lists this exception only in its answers about current employees, so confirm with counsel before relying on it to reject an applicant.
• Jobs where another law requires testing. Section 12954(e) does not preempt laws requiring applicants to be tested, or the way they are tested, as a condition of employment, federal funding, federal licensing-related benefits or a federal contract.

Can you ask a California applicant about cannabis use?

No, in most cases. Section 12954(b) makes it unlawful "to request information from an applicant for employment relating to the applicant's prior use of cannabis." That covers application forms, screening calls and interviews, so take the question out of every script; our illegal interview questions guide lists the other topics to keep out. Under § 12954(c), cannabis information that turns up in a criminal history check is treated the same way unless the employer may consider it under the Fair Chance Act, Government Code § 12952, or another law. The Fair Chance Act steps are on our California ban-the-box page, and the rest of the screening rules are in California background check laws.

What about medical marijuana, rehab and drug-free workplace policies?

• Drug-free workplace policies survive. Section 12954(d) says the law does not permit an employee to possess, be impaired by or use cannabis on the job. Health and Safety Code § 11362.45(f) preserves employers' rights to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free workplace and "to have policies prohibiting the use of cannabis by employees and prospective employees."
• Medical use is not accommodated at work. Health and Safety Code § 11362.785(a) says nothing in the medical cannabis article requires "any accommodation of medicinal use of cannabis on the property or premises of a place of employment or during the hours of employment." A card does not change how § 12954 treats a test result; the metabolite-versus-THC line applies to everyone.
• Rehabilitation programs. Under Labor Code § 1025, private employers with 25 or more employees must reasonably accommodate an employee who voluntarily enters an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program, unless it imposes an undue hardship. The same section does not stop an employer from refusing to hire someone who, because of current alcohol or drug use, cannot do the job or cannot do it safely.
• State contracts. Anyone awarded a state contract or grant must certify a drug-free workplace under Government Code § 8355: a published statement of prohibited conduct, an awareness program and a copy of the statement for each employee working on the contract.

Which federal rules still apply in California?

• DOT-regulated jobs. Commercial drivers must have a verified negative controlled substances result before first performing safety-sensitive functions (49 CFR § 382.301), tested under 49 CFR Part 40. Under § 40.151(e) and (f), a Medical Review Officer may not verify a result as negative because a physician recommended marijuana under a state law, or because the person used hemp or another non-prescription marijuana product.
• Federal contractors. The Drug-Free Workplace Act, 41 U.S.C. § 8102, requires covered contractors to publish a drug-free workplace statement, run an awareness program and report workplace drug convictions. Its listed requirements do not include testing.

What should staffing agencies placing workers in California do?

An agency that employs the workers it places is their employer, so once it has five or more employees the § 12954 limits apply to its own hiring decisions, whatever panel a client asks for. Practical steps:

1. Get the client's panel in writing and check whether its cannabis analyte detects only nonpsychoactive metabolites. If it does, ask for a different method or remove cannabis for covered jobs.
2. Sort each order into covered and exempt before posting: DOT-regulated, security-clearance positions and jobs where another law requires testing follow their own rules.
3. Remove cannabis questions from intake forms and recruiter call scripts, because § 12954(b) applies at the application stage.
4. Keep results out of the submittal. Tell the client only whether the condition was met.

Agency licensing and the rest of California's hiring paperwork are covered in our California hiring checklist.

Checklist: before you drug test an applicant in California

1. Count employees. Five or more brings § 12954 into play.
2. Decide which jobs are tested and whether any are DOT-regulated, security-cleared or otherwise required by law to be tested.
3. Make the test a condition of the offer and apply it to everyone offered that job.
4. Choose a panel and method that do not screen for nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites for covered jobs.
5. Route results through a Medical Review Officer so prescription details stay away from the hiring team.
6. Strip cannabis-use questions from every application and interview script.
7. Write the policy down; the drug testing policy template has a state appendix you can fill in, and drug testing laws in hiring compares other states. Washington and Nevada draw similar lines around cannabis results.