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Medical Marijuana and Job Loss

(CNN) — When a rare form of cancer invaded Joseph Casias’ nasal cavity and his brain, his doctor prescribed marijuana to help alleviate the daily pain.

Casias lives in Michigan, where medical marijuana is legal.

But his employer, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, fired him in November 2009 after he failed a drug test.

Casias, 29, says he never came to work high. He’s got a medical marijuana card to prove he’s allowed to smoke legally in the state.

“I was angry they did this to me because I always tried my best,” said Casias, who was employed at Wal-Mart for five years. He earned an Associate of the Year award in 2008. “I want my job back. I thought I was part of the Wal-Mart family.”

To date, 14 states have laws allowing the use of medical marijuana, which shield legal users from criminalization but don’t protect them from them penalties enforced by their employers. As more people are being prescribed marijuana across the nation, they are wrestling with a caveat: They could be fired.

Michigan is an at-will employment state, which means employers can terminate a worker for any reason except for being in a federally protected class such as race, gender and religion.

But medical marijuana users are not considered a protected group. If a company has zero-tolerance drug policies, then they can fire someone who uses medical marijuana, attorneys say. Labor law experts say most states operate this way, unless the employee has a specific employment contract that makes exceptions for medical marijuana use.

In 2008, the California Supreme Court backed up employers, ruling a private company could fire an Air Force veteran whose doctor prescribed him marijuana for his chronic and disabling back pain. The veteran was hired by a telecommunications company but fired several weeks after he tested positive for marijuana. The landmark case has many medical marijuana users fretting about their employment prospects, legal experts say.

But Michigan may be an exception to most states. Part of Michigan’s law, passed in 2008, does address employers, saying a patient carrying a medical marijuana card cannot be “denied any right or privilege” by a “business or occupational or professional licensing board.”

Some attorneys say Michigan’s law could be fertile grounds for a discrimination suit. Casias hasn’t decided whether he will pursue a lawsuit.