The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act prohibits employers from taking adverse employment actions such as termination and failure to hire solely on the basis of an employee's status as an individual who is certified to use medical marijuana, subject to certain exceptions related to safety. This is a complicated area of law that is still evolving.
Attorney Christine T. Elzer brought one of the first (if not the first) medical marijuana discrimination cases in Pennsylvania and successfully resolved it. In 2025, Attorneys Elzer and Van Hausen obtained two favorable rulings on the Medical Marijuana Act: one that clarifies that "status" as a cardholder includes the individual's use of medical marijuana, and another that holds that while the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) does not require an employer to accommodate the off-duty use of medical marijuana, a disabled employee's use of medical marijuana does not otherwise deprive him of the right to a reasonble accommodation.
If you have been denied a job because of your lawful use of medical marijuana, contact us today.