One court in New Jersey has enforced that provision to compel a mental health treatment provider to continue providing medical treatment. In the case of L.G. v. High Focus Centers, after the defendant informed the patient that it would stop providing intensive outpatient mental health treatments for his anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts because he had obtained his medical marijuana card, the Morris County Chancery court, relying on the clear protection in the CUMMA, issued an emergent temporary order compelling the facility to continue to provide the life sustaining treatments.
This case has broad implications for the medical cannabis patient community, which is currently numbered at 71,492, many of whom are employed.
New Jersey’s top court said Tuesday that medical marijuana patients can’t be fired just for failing a drug test, handing a win to patients across the state including one man who says he was sacked from his job at a funeral home for using medical marijuana while off the clock.
When an Amazon employee in Edison with a medical cannabis card tried to inform his employer that he would fail a drug test due to his prescription, the company allegedly had him take it anyway and fired him for failing it, according to a suit filed in November. A funeral director in Linden was allegedly terminated in 2016 after his employer learned he was prescribed medical cannabis to treat cancer symptoms.
It’s legal in New Jersey to use marijuana for prescribed medical reasons. Many of the state’s employers use drug testing to screen job applicants and terminate employees. A recent NJ court decision sheds much needed light on this developing area of law.
NJCUMMA provides protection from arrest, prosecution, property forfeiture, criminal and other penalties by the State of New Jersey for those patients who use medicinal marijuana to alleviate suffering from certain medical conditions, as well as their physicians, primary caregivers, and those who are authorized to produce, process and dispense marijuana for medicinal purpose.
The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear the case of a man who was fired from his job as a funeral director after his employer found out he used medical marijuana to treat his cancer.
It comes not long after Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law an overhaul of the state’s medical-marijuana program that deals in part with employee protections.
On July 2, 2019, Governor Phil Murphy signed a new law that amends New Jersey’s Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act (formerly the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act) (the “Act”) to create job protections and new procedures for drug testing, among other changes. The amendments to the Act took effect immediately upon signing.
Anti-discrimination Provisions
New Jersey’s Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will consider whether or not a Ridgewood funeral home discriminated against one of its employees in 2016 for using medical cannabis.
In Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings, plaintiff Justin Wild alleged that his employer fired him after he tested positive for cannabis when drug tested following a car accident.
While the Court opined that employers are not required to accommodate the use of medical cannabis by patients “in any workplace,” the justices also acknowledged that the plaintiff’s marijuana use, in this case, took place solely during off-work hours. “[T]he Compassionate Use Act’s refusal to require an employment accommodation for a user does not mean that the Compassionate Use Act has immunized employers from obligations already imposed elsewhere,” the Court determined, explicitly citing New Jersey’s laws against discrimination.