Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Minnesota: High Court Nixes Mandatory Reimbursement for Medical Marijuana Claims
Posted on 27 Dec 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Court of Minnesota, in a split decision involving two companion cases, held the federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C.S. §§ 801-971, preempts an order made pursuant to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Law requiring... Read More

New Jersey: High Court Says Employer May Have to Reimburse Employee for Medical Marijuana
Posted on 25 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Agreeing that an injured employee had sufficiently shown that medical marijuana represented reasonable and necessary medical treatment under New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed a decision by a lower... Read More

New Hampshire: Requiring Reimbursement for Medical Marijuana is Not Aiding and Abetting Federal Crime
Posted on 11 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reversed—for a second time—a decision of the state’s Compensation Appeals Board that had found workers’ compensation carriers for New Hampshire employers could not be required to reimburse an... Read More

New York: Court Approves Treatment Variance for Medical Marijuana
Posted on 7 Mar 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a case of first impression, a New York appellate court affirmed an order entered by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board allowing a medical treatment variance in the form of medical marijuana for an injured worker who suffered from continuing... Read More

Massachusetts: Insurer Need Not Reimburse Injured Worker for Medical Marijuana
Posted on 21 Nov 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held a workers' compensation insurer need not reimburse an injured employee for the costs of medical marijuana in spite of the fact that the worker was evaluated for, and was issued, a certification to enroll... Read More

Kansas: Worker's Surviving Spouse Successfully Rebuts Marijuana Presumption
Posted on 18 Sep 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

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... Read More

Arkansas: Employee Fails to Overcome Presumption of Impairment Following Positive Drug Test
Posted on 2 Feb 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

An Arkansas appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that a worker who suffered a partial traumatic amputation of a finger as she tried to dislodge material from a jammed cutting machine, and who... Read More

New Jersey: Court Affirms Order Requiring Employer to Reimburse Employee for Medical Marijuana Costs
Posted on 30 Jan 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, in a case of first impression, affirmed a workers’ compensation judge’s finding that an employer was required to reimburse its employee for the employee’s use of medical marijuana... Read More

New York: Court Issues First Opinion Re: Medical Marijuana
Posted on 24 Oct 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

Signaling that at least in some cases, an employer and/or workers’ compensation carrier might be required to reimburse an injured worker for the cost of medical marijuana provided under New York’s version of the Compassionate Care Act, a state... Read More

Ohio: Employer Not Liable For Failure to Implement Substance Abuse Policy
Posted on 22 Mar 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

A widow’s wrongful death action filed against her deceased husband’s employer for its failure to implement and maintain a substance abuse policy is barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Act, held... Read More

New Hampshire: High Court Hints that Carriers Might Have to Pay for Medical Marijuana
Posted on 22 Mar 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a decision that cast some light on the issue of medical marijuana use by workers’ compensation claimants in New Hampshire, but which did not answer all pertinent questions definitively, the state’s Supreme Court held that the Appeals Board... Read More

Kansas: Marijuana Test Results Should Have Been Admitted into Evidence
Posted on 21 Feb 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

Reiterating that in Kansas, because of multiple concerns, the rules of evidence do not apply to workers’ compensation hearings, a Kansas appellate court held the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board should not have excluded the results... Read More

Understanding the Concept of 'Legal Impairment': Legalized Marijuana in the Workplace
Posted on 13 Apr 2013 by John Stahl

By John Stahl, Esq. The legal implications of decriminalizing limited marijuana-related activity in some states extend beyond basic challenges such as amending zoning laws to accommodate medical marijuana dispensaries. The associated increasingly large... Read More