Alabama's Medical Marijuana Law Doesn't Apply at Work

Alabama’s medical marijuana law does not provide employment protections for failing a drug test that violates a company’s drug policy. Employer zero-tolerance policies can require workplace drug testing and fire an employee for a positive drug test, even with a medical marijuana card and off-duty use. Employee rights do provide wrongful termination protections for disability discrimination or failure to provide reasonable accommodations. There is a Controlled Substances Act federal prohibition on marijuana, and employers can take disciplinary action for safety-sensitive positions.

For legal guidance on your specific situation, reach out to a local employment law attorney.

Alabama Law Has No Workplace Protections for Use of Medical Cannabis

In January 2022, Alabama became the 36th state in the country allowing doctors to authorize the use of medical marijuana to their patients. But what does that mean in the workplace, and how protected are you?

It depends, according to M. Tae Phillips, an employment & labor attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, in Birmingham. “The Alabama medical marijuana law is written in about as employer-friendly a way as possible.”

The medical cannabis laws in some states, for example, contain employment protections for medical marijuana card holders. This makes such cardholders, in essence, a protected class, as with age, race and gender.

But that’s not the case in Alabama. “There is not any language within the Alabama medical marijuana law that is even close to protecting employees,” says Phillips. “In fact, there’s quite a bit of language that says the exact opposite.”

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What the Alabama Medical Marijuana Law Says

Paraphrasing the law’s contents, Phillips explains what it says about employment. The law:

• Does not require an employer to modify job or work conditions for medical marijuana cardholders
• Does not prohibit employers from establishing and enforcing drug testing or drug-free workplace policy
• Does not prohibit employers from requiring medical marijuana cardholders to notify employers of cardholder status
• Does not provide for an express illegal cause of action for an individual to file a claim against an employer
• Does not prohibit employers from taking adverse employment action against medical marijuana cardholders based either wholly or in part on an individual’s medical marijuana use, and regardless of whether or not they’re impaired

“So it’s just very, very employer-centric type of language,” Phillips concludes.

Disability-Based Claims Could Be Difficult in Alabama

In other states, too, even if there is no employment protection written into the medical marijuana state law, there is the possibility of a disability-based claim. This is because medical marijuana cards are usually issued to those with underlying medical conditions, such as cancer, chronic pain, or PTSD.

And if, in those states, an employer takes an action against such a cardholder, “An individual could assert a disability discrimination or failure to accommodate claim based upon either the underlying medical condition and/or the way in which someone treats their underlying medical condition,” Phillips says.

But in Alabama, this could be more difficult. “There is no Alabama state disability discrimination law,” Phillips says. “If you are an aggrieved employee who feels as though they have been discriminated against based upon disability in Alabama, you have to bring that claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and it has to be brought in federal court,” Phillips says.

“And I’m not sure how a judge in Alabama would view that. We do have a conservative judiciary in Alabama. I would think that the conservative judiciary would probably mean a very conservative view of these types of claims.”

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