Does Medical Marijuana Affect Your Workers’ Compensation Claim?

From your right to carry prescribed Cannabis to privacy in a vehicle, the legalization of marijuana brings with it a slew of caveats in the law. One of these caveats is the use of medical marijuana when you’re employed at a drug-free workplace. While the law may state that you are legally able to consume this drug, your workplace policy and the corresponding potential workers’ compensation policies may not uphold this change.

Drug-Free Workplaces and Medical Marijuana

If you work in a drug-free workplace you are subject to random drug testing – and there is no exception in the law for medical marijuana. You can be terminated for a positive drug screen for marijuana, even if it is prescribed to you and you consume it away from work.

Injury on the Job and Medical Marijuana Usage

Whether you work in a drug-free workplace or are in regular employment, your employer can compel you to take a drug test after being injured on the job. If you test positive for any federally illegal drugs, or drugs that are not prescribed to you, you can be denied workers’ compensation benefits. This is based on a presumption written into the workers’ compensation law that you are assumed intoxicated if you have a positive drug test in any capacity. This prohibition applies to people who have legalized medical marijuana prescriptions in Florida based on the fact that it is still illegal under federal law.

Required Testing for Workers’ Compensation

A big problem with the workers’ compensation statute is that the only required drug test is a urine test. Urine does not show that you are currently, at the time of injury, under the influence because it only shows metabolites or the by-product of drug use. For the same reason, it also cannot show that you are not under the influence. Unfortunately, the limited information provided by a positive urine test allows an employer to presume you were intoxicated at the time of the work accident. However, this presumption can be challenged with the help of proper, experienced workers’ compensation lawyers.

If you are compelled to take a urine test following an injury that occurred on the job, do not refuse to provide a sample when requested by your employer. Even though a positive urine test can result in a presumption of intoxication and possible denial of benefits, that presumption can be litigated. There are very specific administrative procedures that must be followed before the urine test can even be considered as evidence, and a refusal to provide a sample gives your employer the right to deny workers’ compensation benefits. This can severely limit your opportunity to challenge the denial of the claim.

One suggestion is to get a blood test very close to the time following the accident, if you are able, as this can definitively prove that you are not under the influence if there are no active drugs in your blood.

Drug-Related Workers’ Compensation Termination

Previously, if you had been injured on the job and were receiving benefits, it was possible to argue that the medical marijuana prescribed to you could be reimbursable by your employer under the workers’ compensation statutes. However, Florida recently passed an updated medical marijuana statute, Florida Statutes § 381.986, which specifically states that medical marijuana is not reimbursable under the workers’ compensation statutes. It also states that companies may enforce a drug-free workplace and there is not a cause of action for wrongful discharge or discrimination in regards to use of medical marijuana. This means you cannot sue if you are fired for using prescribed medical marijuana.

Unless Florida makes significant changes to medical marijuana and workers’ compensation statutes, the use of prescribed medical marijuana could be hazardous to your job. If you legally use medical marijuana and are injured on the job, Avera & Smith can help with your workers’ compensation claim. The Gainesville law firm specializes in workers’ compensation, personal injury, criminal defense and many other sectors of the law. Contact Avera & Smith for a free consultation today.