As we have been reporting over the last few years, the proliferation of state “Compassionate Use” (medical marijuana) laws and the rights they convey to users have made it increasingly difficult for some employers to enforce drug-free workplace policies.
In the latest example, a federal trial court recently found that an employee who was a medical marijuana prescription holder could bring a lawsuit against her employer under Pennsylvania state law for illegally terminating her based on a positive drug test, despite the statute’s silence on enforcement. In so ruling, the court in Hudnell v. Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Inc., No. 20-01621 (E.D. Pa. September 25, 2020) rejected the employer’s argument that Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law did not allow aggrieved employees to sue their employer to enforce their rights under the law.
Although only a lower court ruling subject to appeal, the decision is another example of how the courts, which until recently had been fairly consistent in upholding drug-free workplace policies against challenges by medical marijuana users, have increasingly started to go the other way.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.