No notice, no problem: Judge dismisses PMMA discrimination claim

A former employee failed to prove his employer decided to fire him because of his medical cannabis patient status when in fact he had failed to disclose the status until after submitting to a drug test and testing positive, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently ruled. Therefore, the court granted the employer’s request and dismissed the employee’s Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (PMMA) claim.

Facts

Matthew Reynolds began working for Willert, a manufacturer of household cleaning products, as a maintenance manager in October 2020. As the job offer explained, his continued employment was conditioned on successfully completing a drug test.

When Reynolds submitted to the drug test a few weeks later, he tested positive for cannabis. The medical review officer (MRO) for the third-party vendor performing the screening contacted him to inquire about the positive result. He informed the MRO he was a medical cannabis patient but never told Willert.

The MRO reported the positive drug test to Willert but didn’t disclose Reynolds’ cannabis patient status. Shortly thereafter and based on the positive test result, the company fired him.

During the termination meeting and after being read his discharge letter, Reynolds (for the first time) told Willert about his cannabis patient status. The disclosure, however, didn’t change the decision, and his termination became effective November 5, 2020.