A former Arizona Walmart employee and card-holding medical marijuana patient who was fired after testing positive for cannabis has won a wrongful termination suit in federal court.<\/p>\n
In the Feb. 7 ruling, U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg in Phoenix found that the company was unable to prove that the employee was impaired on the job and therefore engaged in wrongful termination.\u00a0The company was specially found to be in violation of the non-discrimination provision in the\u00a0Arizona Medical Marijuana Act<\/a>, approved by state voters in 2010.<\/p>\n Attorney Joshua Carden, who argued the case, hailed the ruling as \u201cthe first of its kind in Arizona.\u201d Carden told the\u00a0Phoenix New Times<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cNo court has officially decided whether a private right-of-action exists under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, so that was a big part of the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Carol Whitmire, who had worked for Walmart for eight years at two Arizona locations, got the sack after she suffered an injury on the job in May 2016. According to court documents, she had been leveling bags of ice in the ice machine at the chain\u2019s location in the town of Taylor, when one bag fell on her wrist. She was transferred to an \u201curgent care\u201d center.<\/p>\n Walmart company policy calls for all employees who visit urgent care to submit to a\u00a0drug test<\/a>. Whitmire \u2014 who was legally registered to use medical marijuana for shoulder pain and sleep issues \u2014 tested positive for cannabis metabolites.<\/p>\n On July 4, 2016, she was suspended from her job on the basis of the test results and was formally fired on July 22. As\u00a0Business Insurance<\/a>\u00a0website notes, her termination interfered with her ability to receive workers\u2019 compensation to cover her medical treatment.<\/p>\n With help from the federal\u00a0Equal Employment Opportunity Commission<\/a>\u00a0and the civil rights division of the Arizona Attorney General\u2019s Office, Whitmire filed a discrimination suit against Walmart, and followed it up with a wrongful termination charge. She asserted that the company was in violation of the AMMA, as well as the Arizona Civil Rights Act, and the state\u2019s worker compensation law.<\/p>\n In his ruling, Judge Teilborg granted partial summary judgment to Whitmire for her discrimination claim under the AMMA. The Act states that it is illegal for an employer to fire based on a \u201cpositive drug test for marijuana components or metabolites, unless the patient used, possessed or was impaired by marijuana on the premises of the place of employment or during the hours of employment.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Teilborg turned down the claims alleging discrimination under the state Civil Rights Act and workers\u2019 comp law. The court has yet to make a decision on awarding damages to Whitmore or ordering her reinstatement at the job.<\/p>\n In a statement to the New Times, Walmart wrote that the company is \u201cpleased the Court dismissed several of the claims, and we will continue to prepare our case.\u201d<\/p>\n While this ruling is a first for Arizona, it is part of a growing trend around the country. After years of upholding employee firings for use of cannabis even under state medical marijuana programs, the courts are\u00a0finally starting to turn around<\/a>\u00a0on the question.<\/p>\n A recent overview on the legal news site\u00a0Lexology<\/a>\u00a0notes the case of\u00a0Noffsinger v. SSC Niantic Operating Co., LLC,\u00a0<\/i>in which\u00a0<\/i>a\u00a0Connecticut<\/a>\u00a0federal court held that a federal contractor could not enforce its zero-tolerance drug policy against a medical marijuana user.<\/p>\n Similarly,\u00a0Oklahoma<\/a>\u00a0law bars employers from punishing workers based on their status as medical marijuana card holders, or a positive drug test for cannabis, unless the employer would lose a benefit under federal law. While such statutes do not prohibit employers from disciplining workers who consume cannabis or are under its influence while on the job, it may be difficult to determine when an employee is actually impaired or if a drug test is warranted.<\/p>\n \u201cThis difficulty can give rise to liability for discriminatory drug testing or wrongful employment actions in instances where a contractor is mistaken,\u201d according to the analysis by Alabama-based law firm\u00a0Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, other medical-marijuana states do not require accommodation of employees\u2019 use, the analysis finds.<\/p>\n In California, an employer may dismiss a worker<\/a>\u00a0who tests positive for cannabis \u2014 even after state legalization \u2014 if the company has a \u201cdrug-free\u201d policy. Under\u00a0Ohio<\/a>\u00a0law, employers are not barred from discharging, disciplining or refusing to hire an individual on the basis of use or possession of medical marijuana, nor are they restricted from establishing and enforcing a zero-tolerance drug policy, despite the passage of a medical marijuana law in the Buckeye State in 2016.<\/p>\n So, although this latest victory remains a promising start, it\u2019s clear that the fight to protect medical marijuana patients who hold jobs is far from over.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, does your state have laws in place about workers\u2019 medical marijuana rights?<\/p>\n The post Walmart Lawsuit Ends in Another Win for Workers\u2019 Rights to Medical Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A former Arizona Walmart employee and card-holding medical marijuana patient who was fired after testing positive for cannabis has won a wrongful termination suit in federal court. In the Feb. 7 ruling, U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg in Phoenix found that the company was unable to prove that theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8036,4760,50,484,702,8037,90,687,139,557],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33096,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33095\/revisions\/33096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Punished for On-the-Job Injury<\/h4>\n
The First for Arizona, But Not the First\u00a0in the U.S.<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Walmart Lawsuit Ends in Another Win for Workers\u2019 Rights to Medical Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"