After a workplace accident, a 30-year-old employee of a Michigan Wal-Mart was asked to take a drug test. As he knew he would, the employee failed the test. When he was fired from Wal-Mart, he filed an employment lawsuit claiming that he used the drug for medical purposes, and that Wal-Mart could not fire him under a Michigan law that legalized such medical use. However, a judge recently ruled that the firing was appropriate because the law did not extend to private companies and their drug policies.

According to the employee, he began using marijuana for medical purposes last year when his oncologist recommended the drug for the management of pain related to his cancer and inoperable brain tumor. The employee claims that he never used the drug before or during work. However, he was still fired after violating the Wal-Mart drug policy.

In his lawsuit, the employee claims that his firing violates a state law that protects legal marijuana users from arrest and criminal prosecution. However, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker did not agree, ruling that the medical marijuana law did not regulate private employment, and therefore, the firing was legal.

"Nowhere does the law state that the statute regulates private employment, that private employees are protected from disciplinary action should they use medical marijuana, or that private employers must accommodate the use of medical marijuana outside of the workplace," Judge Jonker wrote in his ruling. Under the employee's claim, Jonker said, "no private employer in Michigan could take any action against an employee based on an employee's use of medical marijuana. This would create a new protected class in Michigan and mark a radical departure from the general rule of at-will employment."

The employee, who has been unable to find another job since he was fired from Wal-Mart, has pledged to appeal the decision.

Source: The Grand Rapids Press, "Walmart worker fired for using medical marijuana vows to appeal ruling", John Agar, 11 February 2011