Medical Pot Law Doesn't Protect Fired Wal-Mart Worker, 6th Circuit Rules
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A federal appeals court has ruled for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the case of a worker who claimed he should not have been fired for using medical marijuana.
The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Michigan’s medical marijuana law does not protect Joseph Casias, who was fired after he failed a drug test, report MLive.com and the Battle Creek Enquirer. Casias has an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer.
The medical pot law does not protect workers in a private employment setting, the court said in a Sept. 19 opinion (PDF). At issue was a statute that said patients who comply with the law should not be subject to disciplinary action “by a business or occupational or professional licensing board or bureau.”
The court said the word “business” describes the type of licensing board or bureau, and is not a stand-alone term.
