Below are two articles from two of the top legal firms in Portland on the recent medical marijuana ruling. We offer our thoughts below:
”Washington Supreme Court Holds That Washington’s Medical Marijuana Act Provides No Job Protection”
Bullard Law eAlerts, June 10, 2011
”Washington Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Medical Marijuana Ruling: Employers are Not Obligated to Accommodate Users”
Barran Liebman eAlert, June 9, 2011
Xenium Summary / Employer Practice Guidance:
Bottom line for employers is that the WA and OR courts do not consider/recognize medical marijuana as a prescription drug, but rather an ILLEGAL drug. Therefore, employers may enforce their zero tolerance D&A policies if a worker violates (ex. is under the influence of marijuana at work) – regardless of whether the employee discloses/presents a prescription/card. Additonally, employers do not need to accommodate an employee’s use of medical marijuana under disability law SIMPLY based on the fact the employee has an RX. With that said, employers should take care NOT to base employment decisions based on the fact/knowledge that an employee has a medical marijuana card for treatment of a health condition. Doing so could create exposure to a discrimination claim under ADA and state disability laws.
