Medical Cannabis Patient Successfully Sues Employer for Discrimination
A state Superior Court judge ruled on Tuesday that a Rhode Island fabrics company violated the state’s medical cannabis law by firing an employee over a failed drug test. Other employees and job applicants that consume cannabis for medical reasons are not so lucky. The implications of the case, however, could spell greater leverage for employees that consume cannabis.
Christine Callaghan sued Darlington Fabrics Corp. for compensatory and punitive damages after she was fired from her paid internship in 2014. Callaghan, then a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island, didn’t plan on consuming cannabis while on the clock, but was denied her internship simply because she had a medical cannabis card.
Associate Justice Richard A. Licht’s 32-page judgement states that Darlington Fabrics broke the state’s Hawkins-Slater Medical Marijuana Act when they denied employment to Callaghan.
According to the Hawkins-Slater Medical Marijuana Act, “no school, employer or landlord may refuse to reenroll, employ or lease to or otherwise penalize, a person solely for his or her status as a cardholder.” According to court filings, she was fired because of her inability to pass a drug test. The judge said it was “absurd” for the General Assembly to offer less protections to the ill.
“This decision sends a strong message that people with disabilities simply cannot be denied equal employment opportunities because of the medication they take,” Carly Beauvais Iafrate, Callaghan’s legal counsel said in a statement after the ruling. Iafrate’s experience as a volunteer attorney for the ACLU most likely prepared her for the case. 17,000 other Rhode Islanders are currently enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program as patients or caregivers and could potentially protect themselves from their employers under the right circumstances.
Darlington Fabrics plans on appealing the decision, according to defense attorney Meghan Siket. Other states could take cue from Rhode Island by offering similar protections for medical cannabis patients.
