Federal Judge Holds Employer Need Not Waive a Drug Test

New Jersey law protects registered users of medical marijuana from criminal penalties. And as reported in 2018, medical marijuana use in the state has been expanded. However, the law doesn't require an employer "to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.” In Cotto vs. Ardagh Glass Packing Inc., a U.S. District Court in Camden held that an employee suspended indefinitely after he told his employer that he couldn't pass a drug test because he used medical marijuana in addition to prescription pain medicine did not have standing to sue for disability discrimination. Noting that all marijuana use is still illegal under federal law and that New Jersey state courts have generally found that private employers may require workers to pass a drug test, the court stated that "Nothing in the complaint indicates [that the employer] took issue with his disability as such, only with a consequence of his treatment."