Disability Discrimination - You may get high, but you may get fired
In 1996 the voters of California passed The Compassionate Use Act which allows people with a valid doctor's prescription to cultivate and use marijuana for medicinal purposes such as migraine headaches, AIDS, and for mitigating the side effects of cancer treatment. Throughout Los Angeles, there are doctors who prescribe marijuana for medical use and marijuana distribution sites. However, marijuana is a prohibited substance under federal law.
The Act, among other things, provides that there shall be no sanction for one who cultivates or uses marijuana prescribed by a physician. One might think that if a person who used marijuana at home in compliance with a valid doctor's prescription could not be fired from his or her job for testing positive for marijuana. Even if the person was not high at work, showed no effects of the use of marijuana, had no marijuana on his person at work, agreed to never use marijuana or posses it at work, the person should not get fired, right? Wrong.
Last year, the California Supreme Court decided Ross v. Raging Wire Telecommunications, Inc. (2008) 42 Cal. 4th 920.(audio of argument). In that case, after Ross was fired, he sued his former employer, Raging Wire Telecommunications, for wrongful termination alleging that even though he tested positive for marijuana, the employer violated the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which protects employees from being discriminated against or fired because of a medical condition. The court held that the termination was not unlawful or in violation of FEHA and the employer was not obligated to make any accommodation for the employee.
So much for the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. You may get high, but you may get fired.
