Two recent unanimous decisions from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court confirm the supremacy of the state’s marijuana laws over local zoning restrictions. The decisions also indicate a tendency of the Supreme Judicial...more
Our November Insurance Update touches upon some novel issues. •Is an appraisal action – a proceeding to determine fair stock value on the date of merger – a Securities Claim for purposes of a D&O policy? •Must a workers’...more
On October 27, 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that insurance companies could not be compelled to reimburse employees for medical marijuana expenses pursuant to the worker’s compensation scheme that...more
Q: My Company wants to institute a drug testing policy that would automatically disqualify an applicant for employment if they test positive for illegal drugs, including medically-prescribed marijuana. Is this legal?...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled in Barbuto v. Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC that an employee's use of medical marijuana to treat a qualified disability may be a reasonable accommodation under...more
In Barbuto v. Advantage Sales and Marketing (ASM), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that employees can sue employers for failure to accommodate a disability if they are terminated or otherwise...more
A recent unanimous decision by the highest state court in Massachusetts sends a warning signal to employers in all states. Marijuana in the workplace is a complex and unsettled legal issue that will require all employers to...more
(When I think out loud, beware.)- Ellen Kearns’ discussion of last week’s decision in Barbuto v. Advantage Sales and Marketing, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that employers may have to accommodate...more
In a groundbreaking decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled recently week that employees in Massachusetts who have a legal prescription for medical marijuana can sue their employers for disability...more
Beginning when the first states legalized use of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, employers began speculating whether legislatures and courts in those states would continue to permit employers to exclude...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled this week that an employee’s use of medical marijuana to treat her disability may have to be reasonably accommodated under the state’s handicap discrimination law. In Barbuto...more
On July 17, 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded that an employee could sue her employers for state law disability discrimination for failing to accommodate her use of medical marijuana after she failed to...more
On July 17th, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Massachusetts employers may not terminate an employee merely because of his or her off-site use of medical marijuana. According to the Court, the use of medically-prescribed...more
As our readers know, we have been monitoring decisions regarding the ability of employers to take disciplinary action against employees for using marijuana at work. The most recent high court to weigh in on this topic is the...more
An employee fired after she tested positive for marijuana on a test administered in the hiring process should be able to proceed with her “handicap discrimination” claim under Massachusetts’ anti-discrimination statute, the...more
On July 17, 2017 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that under the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination law an employer may be required to accommodate an employee who is a current user of medical marijuana regardless...more
In a landmark decision that is likely to influence other states, a recent ruling in Massachusetts protects medical marijuana users against discrimination by their employers absent undue hardship....more
In a decision that is the first of its kind, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts reversed the dismissal of a state law disability discrimination claim arising from an employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation...more
In a recent decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has made it clear that employers cannot take action against employees who lawfully uses medical marijuana, as doing so is tantamount to denying a request for a...more
On July 17, 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously held that an employee may pursue a disability discrimination claim under state law against her former employer for failing to accommodate the employee’s...more
On July 17, 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Barbuto v. Advantage Sales & Marketing, LLC, that an employee using medical marijuana in treatment of a chronic illness may qualify for protection against...more
In a much-anticipated decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled on July 17, 2017, that an employee's use of medical marijuana to treat a qualified disability may be a reasonable accommodation under the...more
..The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has determined that it may be a reasonable accommodation under the state anti-discrimination law for a handicapped employee to use medical marijuana, if certified by a physician,...more
On Monday, July 17, 2017, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") issued a decision in Barbuto v. Advantage Sales and Marketing, holding that an employee may sue her employer for handicap discrimination based on her...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 17, 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that an employer could be liable under the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination Act for disability discrimination by declining employment based...more