Medical Use of Marijuana Costs Some a Job

[JackTheGrower]

Medical Use of Marijuana Costs Some a Job

The New York Times has run a sympathetic article on how honest law abiding people are losing their jobs because employers make no distinction between lawful medical Use of Cannabis and someone that smokes Cannabis at lunch on the job.

Many of us are aware that the Metabolites that are tested for to determine Cannabis use are available many days after a point of consumption of cannabis.
Meaning someone could have a Cannabis infused meal on Saturday night as a medical treatment and come Monday or several Mondays later be fired from their job.

So Bully for the New York Times!

Residents in 14 states and Washington can now appeal to their doctors for prescriptions for medical marijuana to help them with their pain.
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Toby Hoogs for The New York Times

“Why would they send me down there when they know I am going to test positive?” said Nick Stennet about the prospective employer that sent him for a drug test even though he had mentioned his use of medical marijuana.

Their employers, however, may not be so understanding.

In some cases, workers have been fired for failing drug tests despite having prescriptions saying, in effect, that what they are doing is legal according to the laws of their states.

Though the number of such cases appears to be small, they are exposing a new legal gray area, with workers complaining of rights violations and company officials scratching their heads over how to enforce a uniform policy for a drug that the federal government has not recognized as having a legitimate medical purpose.

“The current state of affairs puts employers in a very difficult situation,” said Barbara L. Johnson, an employment lawyer in Washington. “But the reality is that there are no federal guidelines like there are when dealing with other types of prescription medications.”

Some workers have learned about this legal quandary first-hand, at the cost of their jobs.

Nick Stennet, 20, has a congenital disorder called Poland’s syndrome, which left him without a chest muscle on the right side of his body and with a right hand with fingers substantially shorter than those on his left.

Doctors prescribed one or two inhalations of marijuana each night before bed to relieve severe muscle stiffness and shooting pains in his arms.

Mr. Stennet said he told the human resources manager at the Home Depot in Hilo, Hawaii, about his prescription when he was being hired. But after his drug test came back positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active chemical in marijuana, he was out a job.

“Why would they send me down there when they know I am going to test positive?” he said. “I feel like they put me through ridicule when it was so avoidable.”

Steve Holmes, a Home Depot spokesman, said the company followed federal guidelines for its drug policy. Employees are allowed to take a leave if they choose to use marijuana to combat the side effects of treatment for a serious ailment. When they return, however, the THC must be out of their systems.

“It’s a safety issue for us,” Mr. Holmes said.

Cynthia Estlund, a professor of labor and employment law at New York University, said that only one state that had legalized medical marijuana had taken the additional step of saying explicitly that it was unlawful to fire someone for using a lawful substance.

At the same time, Ms. Estlund said, “Nothing in the law tells employers what to do, so they don’t have to fire them under federal law.”

That is the objection raised by Scott Michelman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of his client, Joseph Casias.

In 2008, Mr. Casias, a father of two who medicates with marijuana to relieve the pain of inoperable brain and sinus cancer, was named associate of the year at the Wal-Mart in Battle Creek, Mich. But when he injured his knee last year, company policy required a drug test. The positive result cost him his job.

In June, the A.C.L.U. filed a complaint in state court on his behalf, citing wrongful termination. He is seeking reinstatement and damages.

“The cancer is not what’s keeping him from earning a living — Wal-Mart is,” Mr. Michelman said. “There’s actually no law to require Wal-Mart to do what they did.”

Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said: “This is obviously an unfortunate situation all around. But we have to consider the overall safety of our customers and our associates.”

On the broader legal question, Mr. Rossiter added: “As more states allow this treatment, employers are left without guidelines.”

Only the Rhode Island Medical Marijuana Act offers protection to medical marijuana cardholders for students, employees and tenants. Michigan’s law does not compel an employer to make accommodations for marijuana consumption “in any workplace” or for “any employee working while under the influence of marijuana,” according to the legislation.

While that addresses marijuana smoking at work or just before work, the Michigan law does not speak to what employees can do away from work. Mr. Michelman of the A.C.L.U. said he believed that there was no gray area and that federal law does not govern the relationship between a private employer and an employee.

“There is only one law governing this situation, and that’s Michigan law,” he said.

Please follow the link at the top of the page to read the whole story.

 

[JackTheGrower]

A related article.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/08/28/Medical-marijuana-users-can-be-fired/UPI-68031283017027/

Something has to be done. If we allow employers to continue blanket discrimination we have a long war ahead after Decriminalization in California and indeed all 14 States.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Only one of the 14 U.S. states that have legalized medical marijuana protects users from being fired if they fail a drug test, a lawyer says.

Cynthia Estlund, who teaches labor law at New York University, told The New York Times employers are not required to dismiss marijuana users either. Part of the problem is that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the newspaper reported Saturday.

The Rhode Island law legalizing marijuana for medical reasons bans employers or landlords from penalizing users.

"The current state of affairs puts employers in a very difficult situation," Barbara L. Johnson, a Washington employment lawyer, said. "But the reality is that there are no federal guidelines like there are when dealing with other types of prescription medications."

Employers who have fired people who tested positive say the issue is safety. Joseph Casias, a cancer patient, was fired from his job at a Michigan Walmart last year.

"This is obviously an unfortunate situation all around," a company spokesman, Greg Rossiter, said. "But we have to consider the overall safety of our customers and our associates."