Earlier this month, a New Jersey Transit worker filed a lawsuit against NJ Transit in connection with his positive drug test for use of medical marijuana. As a result of the positive test, pursuant to NJ Transit's drug policy, he was sent to rehab. He is now attempting to challenge New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act to provide protection for employees who are prescribed marijuana by their doctor to treat a legitimate illness.
The argument is essentially as follows: if employers are not allowed to take adverse employment action against an employee for use of medical devices and/or medications, then why should legitimatly prescribed use of marijuana be any different?
For starters, the law specifically states "nothing in this act shall be construed to require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace." That would appear to explicitly take the use of medical marijuana outside the realm of a New Jersey Law Against Discrimination ("LAD") and Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") disability discrimination claim. But should these employees be held accountable for failed drug tests?
Despite the rise in acceptance on a state-level of medical marijuana, federal law still treats marijuana as an illegal schedule 1 drug. As a result, similar challenges to laws allowing for medical marijuana in other states have all failed, even as they relate to exemptions from a drug test. Unless the law is in someway modified or medical marijuana becomes more widely accepted, users of medical marijuana may be subject to the drug policies of their employers.
This is certainly an interesting topic and we will keep you apprised of any interesting developments.
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