Kansas: Worker's Surviving Spouse Successfully Rebuts Marijuana Presumption

The Supreme Court of Kansas agreed that the widow of a worker who sustained fatal injuries in a fall at work rebutted the presumption of intoxication afforded the employer where two drug tests showed the presence of marijuana in the worker's system, but other evidence, including testimony by a co-worker, indicated the decedent showed no signs of intoxication in the time period immediately prior to the fall. A medical expert indicated that the test showed the presence of THC, marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, but the mere presence did not mean the decedent was under the influence of the drug at the time of the accident.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Woessner v. Labor Max Staffing, 2020 Kan. LEXIS 88 (Aug. 28, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 36.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

Sign up for the free LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation enewsletter at www.lexisnexis.com/wcnews.