WY Workplace Cannabis Protections — None

Last verified: May 2026

Right-to-Work + At-Will Employment

Wyoming has been a right-to-work state since 1963 (Wyo. Stat. § 27-7-108 et seq.) and operates under at-will employment doctrine (no statute or court-recognized broad public-policy exception). Combined, these features mean:

• Employers may terminate employees for any reason or no reason — including off-duty conduct — provided the termination does not violate a narrow set of recognized exceptions (federal civil-rights law, Wyo. Stat. § 27-9-105 minimum-wage retaliation, etc.).
• Cannabis use, on or off duty, in or out of state, is grounds for termination at any private employer’s discretion.
• No statutory cause of action exists for an employee terminated for off-duty cannabis use in a legal-rec state.

No Hemp Extract Act Cardholder Protection

Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-7-1901-1904 (the Hemp Extract Act 2015) creates a narrow CBD-only patient registry for intractable epilepsy. The Act does not create any employment protections. Cardholders may be drug-tested, may test positive for THC metabolites if their certified product contains residual THC, and may be terminated for the positive test. The Act’s function is solely to provide a state-law affirmative defense to possession charges — not employment shelter.

DOT, Federal-Contractor, and Safety-Sensitive Roles

Federal-law regimes operate independent of Wyoming state law:

• DOT-regulated workers (commercial drivers, pipeline workers, certain rail workers, certain aviation workers) — subject to 49 CFR Part 40 random and post-incident drug testing, with cannabis abstention required regardless of state law.
• Federal contractors — subject to drug-free workplace requirements under 41 U.S.C. §§ 8101-8106 (Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988) and Executive Order 12564.
• Federal grantees — drug-free workplace requirements often extend to grant-funded positions in healthcare, research, and education.
• Security-clearance holders — SF-86 disclosure and continuous-evaluation requirements; cannabis use is grounds for clearance denial or revocation.
• Active-duty military — UCMJ Article 112a prohibits any cannabis use, including in legal-rec states.

Wyoming Board of Nursing — § 33-21-146

Wyo. Stat. § 33-21-146 (Wyoming Board of Nursing licensing) requires character/fitness review for any drug-related arrest. The provision applies to:

• Initial licensure applications (LPN, RN, APRN).
• Renewal applications.
• Reinstatement applications.

An out-of-state cannabis arrest — even one resulting in no conviction — can trigger Board review. Other Wyoming licensing boards (medicine, pharmacy, real estate, certain trades) operate similar character/fitness review requirements.

Pre-Employment Drug Testing

Wyoming has no statute regulating pre-employment drug testing. Employers may require any applicant to submit to drug testing as a condition of employment. Cannabis-positive results may be used to disqualify applicants.

Random & Post-Incident Testing

Wyoming has no statute regulating random drug testing or post-incident drug testing in private-sector employment. Employers may implement random testing programs at their discretion. Most major Wyoming employers in oil and gas, coal mining, healthcare, and federal-contracting maintain comprehensive testing programs.

Workers’ Compensation Cannabis Exclusion

Wyo. Stat. § 27-14-102(a)(xi)(C) and related provisions allow workers’ compensation insurance carriers to deny or reduce benefits for injured workers who test positive for controlled substances if the substance was a contributing factor to the injury. The cannabis-positive presumption — combined with the long detection window for THC metabolites — can produce benefit denials weeks after legal off-duty use.

Unemployment Insurance

Wyo. Stat. § 27-3-311 disqualifies for unemployment insurance benefits any employee discharged for misconduct connected with work. Employer-policy violation related to cannabis is regularly treated as misconduct supporting disqualification. Employees fired for off-duty legal-rec cannabis use that produces a positive workplace test are typically disqualified from UI benefits.

What This Means in Practice

• Public-sector employees: state, county, and municipal employees in Wyoming are subject to drug-testing programs without statutory protections.
• Healthcare workers: licensing-board character/fitness rules plus federal-grant-recipient drug-free policies create double exposure.
• Education workers: federally-funded universities (UW), community colleges, and K-12 districts maintain drug-free policies.
• Energy industry: virtually 100% drug-free-workplace coverage in coal, oil, gas, and trona/uranium operations.
• Transportation: BNSF, Union Pacific, and DOT-regulated trucking are zero-tolerance regardless of state law.

Comparison to Other States

Wyoming is among a shrinking minority of states with no cannabis-related employment protections of any kind. As of 2026, more than 20 states have enacted some form of cannabis-specific employment protection — ranging from medical-cardholder anti-discrimination provisions (most medical-only states) to broader off-duty-cannabis-use protections (NJ, NY, CA effective 2024, NV, etc.). Wyoming’s lack of any such framework reflects the broader full-prohibition posture and the absence of a state medical-cannabis program to anchor employment-rights legislation.

Related on this site: WY Federal & Energy Employers, Send a Message, Contact CannabisWyoming.org.