Credit: Bulent Ince/iStockphoto.com.
Connecticut has joined the mix of states whose medical marijuana laws are running afoul of a federal statute that still lumps it in with illegal controlled substances such as cocaine and heroin.
A case playing out in the Nutmeg State revolves around a 36-year-old East Hampton man suing Amazon Inc. and Integrity Staffing Solutions for refusing to hire him due to his use of medicinal marijuana under his doctor’s guidance.
Jeffrey Rigoletti claims he was informed by job staffing firm Integrity that he’d be hired as a warehouse worker at Amazon’s Windsor-based fulfillment center in October. Rigoletti’s attorney, Matthew D. Paradisi of Hartford-based Cicchiello & Cicchiello, contends his client was upfront with Integrity that he used medicinal marijuana because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a debilitating medical condition covered under state statute.
Paradisi said his client has a physician’s “written certificate” which is not the same as a prescription, but that’s still covered under state statute.
The state statute says, in part, “No employer may refuse to hire a person or may discharge, penalize or threaten an employee solely on the basis of such person’s or employee’s status as a qualifying patient or primary caregiver under sections” of that statute pertaining to medicinal marijuana.
“They plainly discriminated against him and failed to hire him based on his palliative use of medical marijuana,” Paradisi said. “That is specifically what the statute was designed to protect against.”
According to the suit, Rigoletti was told his start date, pending a pre-employment screening, would be Oct. 24. Eleven days before that, Rigoletti was told Amazon would not hire him based on information obtained from his pre-employment screening.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Hartford Superior Court and transferred Tuesday to U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, states that Rigoletti “spoke with a female individual from Integrity, who conveyed to plaintiff that the reason he had been denied employment at Amazon” was due to his marijuana use.
Experts following marijuana legalization are split on whether Rigoletti stands a chance of winning due to conflicting provisions in the federal Americans with Disability Act that may trump Connecticut’s law.
While sympathetic to Rigoletti’s plight, Robert Capecchi, director of federal policy for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, believes Rigoletti has an uphill battle.
“When it comes to ADA, from what I understand, the employment discrimination lawsuits [nationwide] have been unsuccessful,” Capecchi said. “They just have not found success under ADA because of the classification of marijuana as an illegal controlled substance and, as far as I know, there is no push to change the ADA.”
Capecchi cited cases where employees lost against Dish Network in Colorado and Wal-Mart in Michigan.
One section of the ADA states that it does not cover an “employee or applicant who is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs … and that employers may require that employees behave in conformity with the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988.”
The ADA defines “illegal use of drugs” as the use, possession or distribution of drugs in violation of the Controlled Substance Act. The definition does exclude the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional.
Capecchi added, “I am rooting for the individual who was let go. Medical marijuana should be considered like any other medication. This individual is probably more productive by using medical marijuana rather than Percocet or a far more toxic drug.”
Bloomfield attorney Aaron J. Romano, a medical marijuana advocate, disagreed with Capecchi.
“I think it’s a slam dunk in his favor,” said Romano, who has done pro bono work for clients using medical marijuana. “The statute is clear: it’s blatant discrimination against someone who had a medical condition and is being treated for that medical condition. They should hire him.”
Romano added that he suspects recreational use of marijuana will be legalized in Connecticut in 2017, which could have ramifications for employers.
“Once they legalize it, will employers stop hiring people for using a legal product,” he asked. “The bottom line is employers have to catch up with changing social norms and accept the fact that people are using cannabis as medicine and recreationally, and there is no societal harm.”
Paradisi declined to say why Rigoletti suffered from PTSD.
Paradisi, who said his client is looking for lost wages up to the present time and going forward and reinstatement of front pay into the future, said the case “has the potential to say to employers that you can’t frown upon this [medical marijuana] or discriminate against someone for taking what amounts to be their medication.”
At least 28 states have laws on the books allowing medicinal use of marijuana. Connecticut’s statute was implemented in 2012.
Matthew K. Curtin and Patricia E. Reilly of the New Haven-based law firm of Littler Mendelson, are representing Washington state-based Amazon and Delaware-based Integrity. Reilly was out of the office on trial and Curtin did not return calls for comment.
Robert Storace can be reached at 860-757-6642 or [email protected].
