Posts Tagged ‘medical marijuana’

Marijuana: coming to a state near you – and probably sooner than you think!

Thursday, November 15th, 2012

OK, this is something we never contemplated…straight from the Seattle Police Department’s Blotter, we bring you Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle.
The guide offers an FAQ for citizens about the recently enacted Washington law, which decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults over the age of 21. And Washington is not alone… in Colorado, 55% of the voters recently voted to legalize individual possession of small “recreational” amounts of marijuana. Contrary to what you might think, the vote wasn’t all cast by erstwhile hippies and young pot aficionados – some conservative proponents cited the potential billions in tax revenue and the benefits of unclogging the court systems and freeing police time by removing nettlesome petty criminal prosecutions
These voter approvals for recreational use mark a new twist – prior legislative approvals have dealt with medical use of the drug. Last week’s election saw other marijuana ballot initiatives in this vein – medical marijuana use was approved in Massachusetts, making it the 18th state (plus DC) to give the nod to medical marijuana use; however, Arkansas voters nixed their ballot initiative 51% to 48%.
The Devil is in the Details
Even with state initiatives, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. Plus, as with most things, the devil is in the details and most states are scrambling to figure things out. But the train has left the station and is definitely gathering steam so this is an issue that employers need to take seriously. In the Seattle Police guide linked above, we note that the police are looking at the employment-related implications of the law, as well as other matters.

Q. Will police officers be able to smoke marijuana?
A. As of right now, no. This is still a very complicated issue.
Q. If I apply for a job at the Seattle Police Department, will past (or current) marijuana use be held against me?
A. The current standard for applicants is that they have not used marijuana in the previous three years. In light of I-502, the department will consult with the City Attorney and the State Attorney General to see if and how that standard may be revised.

“Complicated issue” sums things up nicely. We’ve compiled some commentary on the matter from various employment law authorities (and will no doubt bring you more in the future!)
Over at the LexisNexis Employment Law Community, attorney Donna Ballman reminds employees that Legal Marijuana Use Can Still Get You Fired. She cites case law on issues ranging from drug testing to the ADA. Most interestingly, she also discusses state laws that prohibit discrimination against medical marijuana users and prohibitions against termination/discrimination based upon an employee’s lawful activities off-duty.
Vance O. Knapp writes about Amendment 64: how do employers address the legalization of marijuana in Colorado? He discusses this new law and the state’s prior law allowing for medical marijuana use, and offers thoughts for employers. He cites this passage from Colorado’s law:

Nothing in this Section is intended to require an employer to permit or to accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale or growing of marijuana in the workplace or to affect the ability of employers to have policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees.

His post appears at Lexology, which has a good library of employment-law related articles on medical marijuana
Greg Lamm of the Puget Sound Business Journal spoke with labor and employment attorney James Shore, who offered five tips for employers to prepare for the new law. You should read his comments in full detail, but here’s a quick summary of key points:
1. Have a written policy covering substances such as drugs and alcohol.
2. Make sure that policy covers any drugs that are illegal under state, federal and local law
3. Make sure that the policy prohibits any detectable amount of illegal drugs, as opposed to using an “under the influence” standard.
4. Employers with multiple locations in multiple states should have one consistent policy
5. Be prepared to see marijuana come up in collective-bargaining and termination negotiations with unionized employees.
We’ve also dusted off a few prior posts that we made on medical marijuana because they outline some issues employers will need to consider.
The current buzz on medical marijuana and the workplace
One Toke Over the Line
You can find more of our blog posts about pot by searching “marijuana.”

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Posted in Law, Medical Issues, Misc. | No Comments »

Medical Marijuana: Walmart Wins! (Walmart Loses)

Monday, February 28th, 2011

We have been following the sad saga of Joseph Casias, a former Walmart employee in Battle Creek, Michigan. Casias, 29, suffers from a sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. (He looks so much older than his years.) After 5 unusually successful years as a Walmart employee, he injured his knee on the job, after which he underwent a mandatory drug test. Casias has a prescription for medical marijuana (legal in Michigan). Inevitably, he failed the drug test. Walmart fired him.
He sued for wrongful termination in federal court. He lost.
Judge Robert Jonker found that while Casias’s use of marijuana was legal, Walmart was within its rights to terminate him. Nothing in the Michigan statute legalizing pot regulates private employment. As we pointed out in a recent blog, the issue of legal drugs in the workplace is a gray zone of formidable dimensions. Employers will usually err on the side of caution, as the exposures for negligent retention appear to outweigh the pressure to accommodate disabled employees. Hence, Walmart wins.
What is lost in the standard personnel procedures that identified Casias as a (legal) drug user and terminated his employment is a simple fact that may or may not concern Walmart. Casias was a highly motivated and valued employee. His work was exemplary. Workers like Casias are not easy to find, especially when the pay is marginal. It’s worth a little extra effort to hold on to them. By following their own rules to the letter, Walmart wins in court but loses on the selling floor.
Legally Disemployed
Even though states are showing some flexibility in their approaches to marijuana, legalization is no help to workers who have a prescription for the drug. These folks will routinely fail post-accident drug tests. As a result, any injury to a worker using medical marijuana will result in a termination. Zero tolerance, zero employment.
We are not suggesting that states attempt to preempt the rights of employers in statutes that legalize marijuana. With so much at stake, with so many complex risk factors at play, employers must have the final say in who works and who is let go. We can only hope that employers use their powers – dare I say it? – compassionately.
Did Walmart have an alternative? With his serious illness, Joseph Casias appears to meet the ADA’s definition of disabled. Walmart could have approached the dilemma through the ADA accommodation process. After Casias failed the drug test, they could have determined: first, that the drug was prescribed; second, that the drug use was not a factor in his injury; and third, that there have been no indications that his drug use has impacted his performance on the job. Having passed this three-pronged test, Walmart could have decided to “accommodate” Casias’s disability by waiving the drug test results and retaining him as an employee.
Alas, in the world of huge corporations, the fate of one man just isn’t worth that much effort. Why bother being flexible when it’s so much easier – and perfectly legal – to show employees the door?
You know the Walmart motto: Save money. Live better. Nothing in there about doing the right thing for the likes of Joe Casias.

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Posted in Disability, Medical Issues | 1 Comment »

Health Wonk Review, Valentine’s week edition, and other news of note

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

When is healthcare like a box of chocolates? Find out over at Colorado Long Term Care Insider, where Louise & Jay Norris host an excellent Valentine’s Week Edition of Health Wonk Review.
Other news of note:
Tasers & cop claims – Roberto Ceniceros of Comp Time has an interesting post on how taser use by police is reducing injury rates and comp claims because it provides a low-impact way to subdue suspects. But tasers are also used on cops-in-training, sometimes resulting in serious injuries.
The straight dope – Joe Paduda has a do-not-miss post on narcotic opioids in workers comp and Cephalon’s role, in which he discusses how drugs like Fentora & Actiq, which are FDA approved only for cancer patients, are being promoted to workers comp patients. (One court ruling stated, “data suggested that more than 80% of patients using Actiq did not have cancer,” and “oncologists accounted for only 1% of Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies in the U.S.”) Cost is a huge issue, but Joe points out that it is not all about the money: Actiq has been linked to dozens of deaths from overdose.
Medical marijuana – Last week, Michigan court rulings dealt a double blow to medical marijuana. One of the Michigan rulings upheld the firing of a Walmart employee who had been proscribed the drug to control symptoms of his brain cancer, a case we posted about last year: Walmart: Shopping for Souls in Aisle Three. (Also see our recent post: Medical Marijuana in the Workplace: Dude, Lock Me Out!.)
Insurer market share – Cyril Tuohy of Risk & Insurance offers a short journey through the latest insurance industry statistics, including some great stats about market share: This Just in: Known and Lesser Known Facts About the Industry
Not something you see every day – CompNewsNetwork informs us that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has recently snagged a record $830,000 in restitution from a prior fraud conviction. The case was truly egregious – an anesthesiologist who bilked the system for $60 million in fraudulent claims – while contributing to at least two deaths in the process. Dr. Jorge Martinez was sentenced to life in prison for “the first known conviction involving a criminal charge of health care fraud resulting in death after the overdose of two patients seeking treatment for work related injuries.”
Illegal immigrant update – Peter Rousmaniere’s Working Immigrants blog is your in-the-know source for tracking the latest issues and stats on the topic. Via the Pew Hispanic Center, he informs us that the 2010 illegal population in 2010 remains about the same as in 2009: about 11.2 million, of which 8 million are in the workforce, and 58% of which are Mexicans. See more detail: Estimate of illegal immigrant population in 2010.
Good WC bookmark – We are adding WorkCompWire as a bookmark in our sidebar and you should keep it handy too. It’s a good source of news and opinion – check it out!
Savings on complex care – Yvonne Guilbert points out that overlooking simple facts can add significant costs to a claim very quickly. She asks carriers what they are missing on complex claims that might be costing them money.
Market pulse – At PropertyCasualty360, Caroline McDonald talks about why buyers shouldn’t get too comfortable with low workers comp rates. One of the primary sources for the article is our friend Mark Walls of Safety National – who is also well know as the founder of LinkedIn’s Work Comp Analysis Group.
Diversity – Jared wade posts that 18 insurance firms are among the best companies for LGBT employees to work for – “scoring a perfect 100% as a Best Place to Work for their ‘support equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees,’ according to HRC.”
Distracted driving in NY – A sign of things to come? In New York, drivers will get two points for talking on hand-held cell phones. A two-point penalty has already been in place for texting while driving. At that rate, auto insurance sure could get expensive quickly for compulsive phone-o-philes.
Mental health – CCOHS, the Canadian counterpart of OSHA, makes the case for why employers should care about mental health at work.

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Medical Marijuana in the Workplace: Dude, Lock Me Out!

Monday, February 7th, 2011

We have been tracking the hazardous effort to integrate medical marijuana into the workplace. It’s not an easy fit. The burden falls on legislators, who write the laws, and on judges, who interpret these laws. The testing ground is often California, where fantasy and reality are so intertwined, it’s getting more and more difficult to separate them.
We read in WorkCompCentral (subscription required) that a state senator named Mark Leno (any relation to Jay?) has introduced a bill to clarify the rights of medical marijuana users in the workplace. Senate Bill 129 gives workers a right to “damages, injunctive relief, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs…” if employment decisions are based upon their medical use of marijuana. Then Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill in 2008. Senator Leno is guessing he might have better luck with Governor Brown (AKA Governor Moonbeam).
Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access, believes that legislation in necessary in order to assure equal rights for medical marijuana users who are not technically disabled: employers have an obligation to accommodate the disabled, but they may not view others the same way. “Under SB 129 you don’t have to be disabled, you simply have to be a medical marijuana patient.”
He goes on to say that Proposition 215 was not intended just for the unemployed: its protections must include workers in the workplace.
Ah, there’s the rub. How do you draw the line between drug free workplaces and medically approved use of marijuana (and, for that matter, opiates and other pain killers)?
Locked Out, Tagged Out, Zoned Out
SB 129 tries to have it both ways. On the one hand, it states: “Nothing in this article shall require any accommodation of any medical use of marijuana on the property or premises of any place of employment or during the hours of employment.” Any employee who is under the influence of marijuana at work can be terminated.
On the other hand, the bill tries to protect the rights of at least some employees at work who might in fact be somewhat impaired by their use of pot. While the bill does not provide protection for workers in “safety sensitive” positions, it does protect everyone else. It defines “safety sensitive” as “a job that has greater than normal level of trust, responsibility for or impact on the health and safety of others or where errors in judgment, inattentiveness or diminished coordination could put others in danger.”
Hmm, what have these guys been smoking? How many jobs can you think of where “errors in judgment, inattentiveness or diminished coordination” would not be a serious if not immediate problem? Would this legislation actually protect employers from “negligent retention” claims where their (somewhat) stoned workers make marijuana-induced mistakes? “Sure, he messed up the calculation of your benefits. But you’ll have to cut him some slack. He was on (medically approved) medication.”
I have the greatest sympathy for legislators struggling to balance the rights of workers in need of specific medications with the rights of everyone else. But in this case, they appear to be straddling the Grand Canyon. Is there any job where inattentiveness and diminished coordination would be acceptable? Consulting? Actuaries? (just kidding). I would suggest that the legislators create a specific list of any such jobs. That would make for interesting hearings, at the very least, and the applications for these positions would increase exponentially.
You have a problem with how I’m doing my job? Dude, I’m locked out. Try me a little later.

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Posted in Disability, Medical Issues, State News | 1 Comment »

Fresh Health Wonk Review! And news notes on the rescue, medical marijuana & more

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Click on over to Healthcare Economist, where Jason Shafrin has posted Health Wonk Review to the “Rescue”, a most excellent edition of health policy wonkery, proving that our regular participants have as many trenchant opinions and observations about healthcare post-reform as they did pre-reform.

And in some other news…
Elation – There aren’t all that many good news stories when you hear about a mine collapse but the world has just witnessed one of the rare exceptions in real time. Reuters put global TV viewership at more than a billion – everyone united to see a different kind of reality TV. The Boston Globe offers a powerful portfolio of rescue photos from the Big Picture, and you can also see an in-depth portfolio from the Chilean Government’s Flickr photostream. Newsweek offered a simple but powerful infographic about the ordeal: What if everything you needed to survive had to fit through this space? and The Telegraph offers excellent diagrams of the mine shaft and the rescue. If you haven’t had a chance to read Wright Thompson’s excellent article in Sports Illustrated, Above and Beyond, make it a point to do so. It’s a well-written article that explores the human story from the perspective of one of the miners, a former soccer star, and it also gives a glimpse into the miners’ ordeal and the engineering challenge of the rescue. Also noteworthy: Ken Ward’s thoughts posted at Coal Tattoo. Ward reports on West Virginia mining matters for the Charleston Gazette and has covered far too many mining stories that did not have happy endings. He writes about what we can learn from the Chilean mine rescue.
More on medical marijuana – “Would a request to pay for marijuana be subject to utilization review? What standards would utilization review use to review it?” These and other issues are considered in a recent article on medical marijuana in Risk & Insurance. In all, 14 states and 27 cities have legalized medial marijuana, which means that employers need to familiarize themselves with the laws governing their work force. Substance abuse expert William J. Judge says that employers should treat medical marijuana just as they would any other drug, such as opiates and amphetamines. He notes that the latter are a class of drugs that are illegal until prescribed.
Lifestyle issues and comp – My colleague Jon has been posting about obesity issues as they play out in real-world scenarios. Meanwhile, a new obesity report by the CDC explains the reason for concern, In 2000, there were no states with an obesity prevalence of 30% or more; now there are 9 states. Also, there is no state with an obesity prevalence of less than 15%. In addition to increased legal challenges around obesity issues, there is the additional factor that obesity hinders recovery. And it is not the only so-called “lifestyle issue” that puts a drag on recovery. The folks at Work Comp Complex Care blog look at smoking and how it impacts complex care recovery.
Social media – managing the risk – Check out More Media, More Opportunity, More Risk: The Upside and Downside of Social Media in this month’s issue of Risk Management Magazine. It’s a series of six articles that cover the benefits and the risks involved in social media, allowing with tips for how to manage the risk.
Free online WC conference – Over at Comp Time, Roberto Ceniceros notes that he will be moderating a free online workers comp conference which will address safety, cost control strategies, alternative risk financing, and comp claim medical costs, among other topics. It’s schedule for December 9, and will run for 5.5 hours.

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Health Wonk Review and other noteworthy news briefs

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Rich Elmore has posted a most excellent Health Wonk Review: Special Edition on Health Care Reform, which might also be called the “when pigs fly” edition. It has a good roundup of the health policy blogosphere’s reaction to the landmark legislation and a handy, must-see one page info-graphic of the time line.
Prevention in Health Reform – at the NIOSH Science Blog, John Howard, the Director of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, summarizes prevention provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and their implications for workplace safety and health.
Frequency – At Comp Time, Roberto Ceniceros looks at the way that health care reform might impact workers comp claim frequency. He explains that the data in this area is thin, but elicits some educated opinions on the topic.
More grim news from China – In addition to the increasingly desperate search for 153 miners which we discussed earlier this week, Ken Ward reports that in a different China mine, 12 miners have been killed and another 32 are missing.
Lifesaver – HR Daily Advisor tells us that survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are only about 5% due to the length of time it takes to get treatment to the victim. The sooner defibrillation is started, the more likely the victim will survive. A recent series of posts discuss the benefits of adding an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) as part of a corporate wellness program. “OSHA says that immediate use of an AED can result in a 90 percent survival rate. With each minute of delay, however, nearly 10 percent fewer survive.” A follow-up post discusses related legal and training issues
Food processing – At The Pump Handle, Carlos Rich makes the case for food processing companies to treat workers more like humans and less like machines. We agree. Meatpacking and poultry processing plants are some of the most notorious environments for safety today. Many also play fast and loose with employment laws.
New blog finds

  • Fair Warning – “…an online nonprofit publication that seeks to provide robust, public interest journalism on issues of health, safety and corporate conduct.” The publication promises investigative journalism, legal and regulatory news, and reports from think tanks, academics, and advocacy groups.
  • Work Safety Blog from Blog4Safety – bills itself as “Your online resource for safety information, safety tips, and safety compliance.” It’s not a new blog, posts go back to 2008, but it is a new discovery for us. The blog is sponsored by The blog content has been provided by Texas America Safety Company (T.a.s.c.o.).

9/11 suit back to bargaining table – Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein surprised a lot of people when he rejected the proposed $575+ million settlement for 9/11 first responders. His complaints? The settlement paid to victims was too little. Read more from law.com: 9/11 Lawyers Return to Bargaining Table to Refine Settlement.
Quick Takes

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One Toke Over the Line

Monday, February 1st, 2010

My colleague Julie Ferguson raised some fascinating issues relating to the growing movement to approve marijuana as a medication. As is so often the case, the implications for workers comp diverge substantially from general health issues. A toke may be just what the doctor ordered for pain management, but in the context of the workplace, any such prescriptions are likely to preclude actually reporting to work.
Here are just a few reasons why the use of medical marijuana is incompatible with the workplace:
– I cannot think of any job suitable for a person who is experiencing a marijuana high (actuaries? Just kidding)
– You cannot operate a motor vehicle or any piece of equipment safely while under the infuence of marijuana
– Imagine the impact on co-workers when a fellow employee lights up a joint. (“Note from a doctor. Yeah, right! By the way, who is your doctor?”)
– Smoking is prohibited by law in virtually all indoor workplaces. “Accommodating” a marijuana smoker by allowing him/her to light up outside of the building raises issues for co-workers and the general public, not to mention the police.
It will be very interesting to see how strongly state legislatures step in to protect medical marijuana users. As Julie pointed out, no state is currently requiring that employers offer “reasonable accommodation” in this situation; it is unlikely that any will do so. The day may come when marijuana makes the list of approved medications in the workers comp system, but prescriptions for weed are unlikely to be accompanied by a return-to-work release from the doctor.
Medical marijuana, along with alcoholic beverages and prescribed opiates, may be legal substances, but employees under their influence do not belong in the workplace. Employers should place the burden of proof squarely on the shoulders of the treating doctor, who must be able to certify in writing that the prescribed use of pot does not put the employee, co-workers and the public at risk for injury. Quite frankly, unless someone works from home, I don’t see how this burden of proof can be met. When it comes to performing a job safely, any toke is a toke over the line.

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Posted in Disability, health care, Medical Issues, Safety & Health | 3 Comments »

The current buzz on medical marijuana and the workplace

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

In our news roundup Wednesday, we cited a few items about medical marijuana, the most interesting to our purposes being the recent California court ruling about whether marijuana should be covered as a workers’ comp medical benefit. In his posting on the topic, Roberto Ceniceros notes that there is a growing likelihood that medical marijuana will become a comp issue at some point, particularly since NJ just became the 14th state to allow medical marijuana use.
Now honestly, we hadn’t given a great deal of thought to these laws previously, but if 14 states have enacted such legislation, it seems to be nearing critical mass so we went Googling to see what we could learn. Not only did we find a good resource that offers an overview of the 14 legal medical marijuana states, we also learned that there are an additional 12 states with pending legislation to legalize medical marijuana. The site is a great resource for tracking legislation, and it provides summaries with links to relevant state laws and to state sites. Did you ever think you’d see the day when states were posting marijuana FAQs?
Medical marijuana and employment issues
Clearly, medical marijuana is an issue that requires attention from any employers who have employees in affected states. And judging by the trend, it’s something all employers may want to think about, starting now. Above and beyond complex issues such as workers comp, there are some immediate employment issues that come to mind: Can employers refuse to hire someone who is authorized by the state to use medical marijuana? Can an authorized medical marijuana user be fired for flunking a drug test? And if fired, can an employee file a discrimination suit under ADA? How do drug testing programs handle positive results for authorized users? And if marijuana is not considered an illicit substance due to medical authorization, how do zero tolerance programs need to adjust for this? How do employers authenticate those who are authorized to use marijuana versus those who are not authorized? And it’s not just employers who have questions – authorized users of medical marijuana have employment questions too.
At Law.com, Tresa Baldas looks at many of these issues: Employers in a Haze Over Medical Marijuana Use. Citing Danielle Urban of the Denver office of Atlanta’s Fisher & Phillips:

” … under federal law, employers are not prohibited from taking adverse actions against someone who tests positive for marijuana. But Colorado permits medical marijuana, and another state law says it’s illegal for an employer to fire someone for engaging in legal, off-duty behavior.
And then there’s the Americans With Disabilities Act to consider. Under the ADA, an employee fired for using pot for health reasons could file a discrimination lawsuit.
“It’s a gray area to know what you can do,” Urban said. “But I think it’s still risky to just fire someone for using it.”

At least in Colorado, the caution seems well placed. According to Renee McGaw writing in the Denver Business Journal, the state has two conflicting laws: one that says that employers don’t have to accommodate medical marijuana use in the workplace while another prohibits firing employees for engaging in legal activities during nonworking hours.
On the heels of New Jersey’s recent law legalizing medical marijuana, Amy Komoroski Wiwi and Nicole P. Crifo of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler PC also examine some of these issues in the unintended Impact of New Jersey’s New Medical Marijuana Law on the Workplace.
The authors note that “The Act states that a qualifying patient “shall not be subject to any civil or administrative penalty, or denied any right or privilege” related to the medical use of marijuana, but it also explicitly provides that employers are not required “to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.'” This is similar verbiage to some other state laws. (Colorado: “Nothing in this section shall require any employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any work place.” Rhode Island: “…employers are not required to make accommodations for employees who use medical marijuana.” Montana: “Nothing … may be construed to require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.” )
As for the issue of drug testing, the authors suggest caution when medical marijuana is cited as a defense in a positive drug test result. First, there is the matter of whether the user is authorized or not; and if so, an employer must consider whether it could be subject to liability under laws prohibiting disability discrimination for taking any adverse action against an authorized and registered user.
It’s still uncertain ground. Courts in California and Montana have upheld employers that terminated employees who failed company drug tests, but each state law is different and issues haven’t been fully tested in the courts. In its FAQs, when asked “What should I tell my employer if I am subjected to a drug test?,” the state of Montana responds: “The law is silent on this issue.”
Wiwi and Crifo offer some good tips to employers:

  • Review the company’s policies and other documents addressing drug use and testing (including drug testing consent forms) and update them as necessary to state your position on medical marijuana use by job applicants and employees.
  • Ensure that all Human Resources and drug testing personnel are aware of the company’s policy regarding medical marijuana.
  • Adopt appropriate measures for maintaining the confidentiality of employees’ and applicants’ registry status.
  • Maintain uniformity in the enforcement of any drug testing policy and response to positive test results.

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Cavalcade of Risk and an assortment of workers’ comp news briefs

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

It’s Cavalcade of Risk day – visit the bi-weekly roundup of posts about risk, graciously hosted this week at Wenchy’s Place – check out this week’s edition and wish the hostess a happy birthday while there.
In other workers’ comp-related news:
Medical costs and WC – Joe Paduda explains why you should expect work comp medical costs to be heading up over at Managed Care Matters. He points to one of the primary problems: “Misaligned incentives for work comp managed care programs, and payers’ increased reliance on managed care program revenue and profits.”
Moving violations – U.S. bans truckers, bus drivers from texting. The National Safety Council estimates that at least 1.6 million crashes are caused each year by drivers using cell phones and texting. The NSC has called for a total ban all cell phone use and texting while driving. Here’s a good site to bookmark since cell phone and texting laws have been changing frequently in response to safety reports: State cell phone and texting while driving laws. It’s maintained by the Governors Highway Safety Association.
More on marijuana – Should pot provided as a work comp medical benefit? Roberto Ceniceros talks about a California
marijuana ruling at Comp Time. Meanwhile, the CA Supreme Court nixed limits on medical marijuana and the Los Angeles City Council voted to close hundreds of dispensaries that have sprung up.
Global risk – Before you open that branch office in Somalia, you may want to take a look at Emily Holbrook’s posting on Risk Monitor: the most hazardous countries for business.
P/C Forecast – What’s in store for the property-casualty industry in 2010? Ernst & Young offer a 2010 U.S. industry outlook. (PDF)
Comp Case Law Over at LexisNexis WC Law Blog, Larson’s Case Law Developments offers their picks for The Top 10 Workers’ Compensation Cases of 2009.
Union census – Workplace Prof Blog reports on a Department of Labor report which shows that the union density rate was essentially unchanged in 2009 – 12.3% vs 12.4% in 2008. Among private sector employees, the rate dropped to 7.2% from the 2008 rate of 7.6%. Also of note from the report: “The data also show the median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary union members were $908 per week, compared to $710 for workers not represented by unions. Union members earn 28 percent more than their non-union counterparts.”
Quickies

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A Toke In Time

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Six years ago Robin Hove was working as a security guard. The Saskatchewan resident became entangled with a shoplifter. In the course of the struggle, an open cut in the shoplifter’s mouth bled onto Hove: “The blood came pouring out of his mouth, into my eyes and into my mouth and I was just drowning in it.” Ugh.
Hove, suffering from post-traumatic stress, has not worked since the incident. For five years, his doctor prescribed conventional anxiety medications. None worked. Then his doctor prescribed medical marijuana. Bingo. Hove began to enjoy life again. While still incapable of working, he was able to get out of the house and function somewhat normally. A few tokes and he was as good as new.
Unfortunately for Hove, the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board does not recognize medical marijuana as a legitimate medication; marijuana is not listed in the catalogue of approved pharmaceuticals. Hove has to pay for the pot himself. It’s running a whopping $600 per month (and they used to refer to “nickel bags”!).
Hove is appealing the board’s denial of his request that his marijuana expenses be reimbursed. My advice to Hove: don’t hold your breath. The board is unlikely to budge.
Like, Heroic
Hove found himself in the news recently. He was enjoying a coffee at a local restaurant when a robber armed with a machete tried to rob a nearby gas station. Hove reacted instinctively and heroically, helping to subdue the man. He received a commendation from the mayor for his selfless actions.
Hove’s heroism does raise a couple of questions: what is the relationship between his post-traumatic stress and his ability to intervene in a dangerous situation? Was he “stoned” (sorry about that) or unmedicated when he took action? And finally, if he is capable of heroic acts, why can’t he go back to work?
If Hove’s ability to act is directly related to his consumption of pot, he is probably not employable. No employer would or could tolerate an employee constantly functioning under the influence of marijuana. Thus in all likelihood, Hove will continue his spacy path as an individual with a disability. He will find comfort in his drug of choice, but it will take a third of his limited disability income to pay for the medication. There’s a lot of anxiety in the situation, but relief is just a toke away.

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Posted in Medical Issues | 3 Comments »