A Pennsylvania judge ruled Nov. 10 that an employee’s off-duty use of medical marijuana doesn’t qualify as a “disability” under the state’s Human Relations Act (PHRA). Pamela Palmiter, a certified medical marijuana user, worked at Moses Taylor Hospital and was fired in January 2019 after a positive drug test for marijuana. Palmiter filed two lawsuits […]
Voters in five states approved laws to legalize medical or recreational marijuana on Election Day this year. What does this mean for employers in those states? Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota now have laws approving the use of marijuana in one form or another. Arizona Voters in Arizona passed the Smart and […]
Another state supreme court has weighed in on whether workers’ compensation insurance has to pay for medical marijuana. Despite its ruling, the court writes that aspects of this issue aren’t entirely clear. Daniel Wright suffered work-related injuries in 2010 and 2012. He sought $24,267 from workers’ comp for medical marijuana to treat chronic pain from […]
Can an employee sue their employer for terminating or taking other adverse actions against them solely because the employee is a certified medical marijuana user? The answer is yes, according to a federal court in Pennsylvania. On Sept. 25, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found in favor of a terminated employee […]
Recent statistics show a program to reduce injured workers’ dependency on opioids is working. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, which administers comp for federal workers, implemented a four-point strategy to reduce opioid use that often leads to misuse and addiction. The OWCP: instituted more effective controls at the […]
Scenario: An employee has a medical marijuana license. A question about impairment and a safety-sensitive job arises. Will a drug test or federal law protect your company? Increasingly, the answer to that question is no – at least not relying solely on a drug test or federal law. That was the takehome from the session, […]
Positive drug test results alone aren’t always enough to prove impairment contributed to a workplace injury or death, as an Aug. 28 court decision proves. A worker who tested positive for a large quantity of marijuana showed no signs of being impaired before a fall that led to his death, so his widow can continue […]
Workforce drug positivity rates hit a 16-year high in 2019, with positive marijuana test rates climbing by double digits across almost all testing categories, according to Quest Diagnostics’ annual Drug Testing Index. Positivity rates in the U.S. workforce increased in urine drug tests to 4.5%, the highest level since 2003, and more than 28% higher […]
A lack of fully documented safety training does not prove inadequate communication of safety rules, according to a July 28 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission decision. While the commission upheld a judge’s ruling justifying a citation against a company which claimed unforeseeable employee misconduct, the commission found the judge’s interpretation of inadequate communication was […]
