Fired for using medical marijuana - Employment Law Case of the Week
Employment Law Case of the Week: Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings (New Jersey Ct App 03/27/2019) [PDF].
An employee claims he was fired for off-duty marijuana use.
The employee uses medical marijuana as permitted by the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.
He sued under the state law against employment discrimination saying he has a disability — cancer. He's legally treating his cancer with marijuana and he says he can't be fired for that.
Now the employer finds one sentence, which says “Nothing in this act shall be construed to require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.”
So the employer is saying we can fire him for using medical marijuana according to that sentence.
But the New Jersey Court says that The Compassionate Use Act — which is where that sentence is — does not require accommodation, but the law against discrimination is a separate statute and that statute might require accommodation of his disabilities.
The employer might still be required under the law against discrimination to accommodate his medical marijuana use.