Many states that have decriminalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes have also passed laws that provide job protections for medical marijuana users. This means employers need to proceed with caution before firing, suspending or taking other negative action against a worker who uses medical marijuana.
A Connecticut case, however, shows us that these protections don’t necessarily render medical marijuana users bulletproof in the workplace. In that case, a pre-school teaching assistant lost her job after her employer, which maintains drugfree workplace policies, investigated her alleged impairment on the job.
The employee, who has suffered from epilepsy her whole life, had a medical marijuana prescription to help her deal with her condition but allegedly did not inform her employer of that condition when she was hired. She also allegedly did not disclose her medical marijuana prescription.
A year after she was hired, the employee called a student by the wrong name and apparently admitted to a coworker that this was due to her feeling the effects of medical marijuana. That triggered an investigation during which another employee claimed to have observed her being “forgetful, droopy and unsteady on her feet.”
When the company fired the employee, she filed a discrimination suit alleging that it had violated her rights under the state Palliative Use of Marijuana Act, which bars employers from discharging or penalizing an employee based solely on their status as a medical marijuana user.
A trial court dismissed the claim and the Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed the ruling.
In the court’s view, the reason the employer terminated this employee was her admitted impairment from medical marijuana while on the job. What was equally significant, said the court, is that the employer never told her she couldn’t use medical marijuana, it simply informed her she couldn’t be impaired at work due to safety concerns with children in her care.
Of course, this is just one decision from one state. The laws may be different elsewhere. But if you live in a state that permits medical marijuana, call an employment attorney near you for guidance on managing employees who are qualified medical marijuana users.