NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kratom is on track to be listed as a drug under Tennessee’s workplace drug rules, a change that state officials say will not force any employer to test for it but could matter a great deal to an injured worker filing a claim.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development took public input on the proposal Tuesday morning at its offices at 220 French Landing Drive. The state’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation held a second hearing right after on new claims-handling standards for adjusters.
The kratom change comes from Public Chapter 950, which took effect July 1 and made it illegal to knowingly possess, make, deliver or sell kratom in Tennessee. One section of that law tells the labor commissioner to write kratom into the program’s definition of a drug. The proposed text covers natural and synthetic forms of the plant’s active compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.
Only businesses that choose to join the Drug-Free Workplace Program are affected. Those employers get a workers’ compensation premium discount that their insurer must apply, and they have to renew and be certified every year. They also pay for any testing they require.
The rule does not add kratom to required test panels, which follow a federal transportation list, according to the department. But if a worker at a participating business is hurt and tests positive for a listed drug, the law presumes the drug caused the injury. The worker can rebut that only with clear and convincing proof, so the result could cost the worker benefits.
The proposal says nothing about off-duty use, and discipline remains up to each employer’s policy and employment law.
No effective date has been set. Before it can take hold, state lawyers in the attorney general’s office must sign off, and lawmakers on the Joint Government Operations Committee get a look. The comment window for written input closes Nov. 24 at 4:30 p.m. Central time, and participating employers will be responsible for telling their workers once it is final.
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