Connecticut employers have the right to terminate employees who come to work impaired by medical cannabis, a state Appellate Court judge ruled this month, according to an Insurance Journal report. The court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a nonprofit pre-school that had fired a teaching assistant after she showed up to work under the influence of medical cannabis, which violated the school’s drug-free workplace policy.
The court ruled that despite the state’s medical cannabis law, employers “may prohibit qualifying patients from being under its influence in the workplace” and that employees who make claims under the law must prove they were terminated solely because they are a medical cannabis patient.
The court also affirmed the right of employers to seek drug tests for employees when the employer has a “reasonable suspicion” that an employee is violating its drug-free workplace policy.
The case dates back to 2019 when the employee, who is a registered patient for epilepsy under the state’s medical cannabis program, called a child by the wrong name, which led to her behavior being questioned by a colleague, the report says. The employee responded that “her head was just not