Issue Commentary: Drug-Free Workplace Laws Can Collide With Rules Related to Post-Injury Drug Testing

Kansas Widow Rebuts Presumption of Marijuana Intoxication

Affirming a decision of a split panel of the state’s Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Kansas sustained an award of death benefits to the widow of a worker...

Arkansas Worker Fails to Rebut Presumption After Positive Drug Test

An Arkansas appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that held an injured worker had failed to rebut the presumption that his work-related injury was “substantially...

Arkansas Worker Fails to Show Injury Was Not “Substantially Occasioned” by Marijuana Use

Stressing that an Arkansas appellate court must defer to the state Commission’s findings of credibility and its resolution of conflicting evidence, even though it is the administrative law judge —...

Inadmissible Drug Test May Not Be Used to Show Employee Fraud in Louisiana

In Louisiana, a positive drug test following a work-related injury may not be offered as evidence that the injured worker’s injuries were the result of intoxication at the time of...

Divided Kansas Court Says Lab Test Results Showing Marijuana Were Admissible

Rules of Evidence Do Not Strictly Apply to Comp Hearings Stressing that in workers’ compensation hearings, the Kansas Rules of Evidence do not apply and that even hearsay evidence may...

Florida Comp Act’s Drug-Free Workplace Program Statute Provides no Private Right of Action

Unsuccessful Job Applicant Sought to Utilize Statute After Passing Drug Test, But Not Getting Job § 440.102, Fla. Stat., which establishes a drug-free workplace program as part of Florida’s overall...

Mississippi Commission’s Decision to Deny Claim Because of Employee’s “Refusal” to Take Breathalyzer Test Cannot Stand

Yesterday, in a divided decision, the Court of Appeals of Mississippi reversed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission (“Commission”) that had denied an employee’s workers’ compensation claim because...

Colorado High Court Ok’s Firing of Worker For State-Authorized Use of Medical Marijuana

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Colorado, affirming a split decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, held that under the plain language of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24–34–402.5, Colorado’s...

Ohio Worker May Receive TTD Benefits In Spite of Positive Drug Test After Injury

Reiterating the Ohio rule that that a pre-injury infraction undetected until after the injury is not grounds for concluding that a claimant voluntarily abandoned his employment so as to preclude...