RVT Certification not assigned to Employee
As I was going through the process of getting our RVT course approved by the MED and CDPHE, I was informed by the MED that the certification of Responsible Vendor is only assigned to the dispensary licenses, not the occupational badge of the employee.
In other words, you get an employee trained as a responsible vendor, and they get fired and or go to work for another dispensary, they need to retake the training at their new company because the certification is not attached to the employee's badge. Moreover, in turn, your new hire needs to be trained in the first 90 days for the dispensary license to keep the Responsible Vendor Certification.
The need for compliance is more important than ever. A license could lose its value overnight if there is a compliance violation with fines or suspension. Other states have applications that ask if you hold any other cannabis licenses in any other state or country, if you answer yes, the next question is going to be, have those license(s) had any violations, fines, suspensions or revocations over the last year, if you answer yes, your chances for procuring an out of state license is slim.
Konopé Compliance's responsible vendor designation is well worth the value, so long as you maintain the designation with training new employees within the first 90 days of hire. Ask about our monthly training maintenance plans that are specifically designed to help maintain the RV designation.
A Responsible Vendor Training course is an easy way to show the MED and local authorities that you and your employees have the intent to comply, which after recent events in the Colorado cannabis industry will show us, can go a long way in determining your fate. It is that important I will repeat it, your intent to comply is critical in the event you or your license comes under investigation by the MED or local authorities.
Back on topic now.
The statute can be rewritten to say the designation is first attached to the employee's occupational badge. They can take that with them to the next job, and so can the next employee you hire. I also believe it is a way to incentivize the entirety of the workforce to be better educated, which will, in turn, help make the public safer when consuming cannabis and cannabis products.
We can also leave in the statute that if all employees employed at the licensed facility have their responsible vendor certifications, that the licensed facility is thereby also considered a responsible vendor. Both the employee and the licensed facility are covered with the responsible vendor designation, and both can benefit from that mitigating factor if need be.
I am curious about what the industry thinks of changing this statute. I also wonder if the majority of the industry even knows that the designation is only for the licensee and not the employee. I hope I can help change this law if that is what dispensaries would like. If it is fine the way it is, then I won't have as much work to do during the golfing season.
No matter if the rule changes or not, Konopé Compliance wants to be able to provide a way for a dispensary to not only become a Responsible Vendor but also help them maintain that designation after the initial training.
Let us know how we can help today!
