You are here: / / PLAINTIFF, A PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE, WAS TERMINATED FOR MARIJUANA USE; QUESTIONS...
,

PLAINTIFF, A PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE, WAS TERMINATED FOR MARIJUANA USE; QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER AN ACCOMMODATION FOR PLAINTIFF AS A MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined there are questions of fact about whether plaintiff probationary employee was entitled to accommodation under the Human Rights Law (HRL). She was terminated for marijuana use. However, the marijuana use was a treatment for an illness, irritable bowel disease (IBD):

… [T]here are issues of fact, for purposes of plaintiff’s claim for failure to accommodate under the State Human Rights Law (HRL), as to whether defendant adequately engaged in a cooperative dialogue with plaintiff …. to determine whether it could reasonably accommodate her status as a medical marijuana patient (see PHL 3369[2]). Notably, questions of fact exist as to whether defendant improperly cut the dialogue process short when it discovered that plaintiff was a probationary employee, and refused to consider accommodating her — as it regularly did for permanent employees — by, for example, giving her discipline short of termination, or simply overlooking the one-time technical violation in light of her contemporaneously acquired status as a medical marijuana patient … . …

The State HRL defines status as a medical marijuana patient as a protected disability, but the City HRL does not. Although the City HRL must be construed liberally to ensure maximum protection … , certification as a medical marijuana patient is (other than as specified for purposes of claims under the State HRL) a legal classification. It is not a “physical, medical, mental, or psychological impairment,” which is how disabilities are defined under the City HRL (Administrative Code § 8-102).

Nevertheless, plaintiff’s IBD, is a physical impairment and thus a disability under the City HRL. Accordingly, issues of fact exist as to whether defendant should have permitted plaintiff to treat her IBD through the medical use of marijuana, as a reasonable accommodation. Gordon v Consolidated Edison Inc.,2021 NY Slip Op 00492, First Dept 1-28-21

 

You might also like
IN THE FACE OF BATSON CHALLENGES, THE FACTS THAT A JUROR HAD SERVED ON A HUNG JURY AND WORKED AT A SOUP KITCHEN AND ANOTHER JUROR WORKED FOR A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION HELPING HIV-POSITIVE DRUG USERS WERE DEEMED VALID, RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING THE JURORS, THE CONCURRENCE NOTED THESE REASONS WERE BASED UPON QUESTIONABLE ASSUMPTIONS (FIRST DEPT)
JOHN DOE NAMED IN TIMELY COMPLAINT DID NOT REFER TO THE LLC NAMED IN THE COMPLAINT FILED AFTER THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD RUN, MOTION TO DISMISS PROPERLY GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).
PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT AGAINST THE DEFAULTING DEFENDANT-ATTORNEY SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS BY DEFENDANT-ATTORNEY’S WITHHOLDING REQUESTED LEGAL SERVICES AND ENGAGING IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT (FIRST DEPT).
PLAINTIFF MODEL SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED PHOTOSHOOTS DONE WHEN SHE WAS 16 AND 17 FOR A SUNTANNING-PRODUCT MARKETING CAMPAIGN CONSTITUTED “SEXUAL PERFORMANCES” TRIGGERING THE EXTENDED STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IN THE CHILD VICTIMS ACT (FIRST DEPT).
PLAINTIFF ALLEGED A VALID NEGLIGENCE CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST DEFENDANT INSURANCE BROKER FOR FAILURE TO NOTIFY THE EXCESS CARRIER OF A CLAIM AGAINST PLAINTIFF; IT WAS ALLEGED THAT PLAINTIFF ROUTINELY NOTIFIED DEFENDANT BROKER OF ANY CLAIMS AND DEFENDANT BROKER ROUTINELY NOTIFIED THE AFFECTED CARRIERS, GIVING RISE TO A DUTY TO DO SO (FIRST DEPT).
Hearsay Statement Did Not Meet the “Reliability” Requirement for Admissibility as a Statement Against Penal Interest
IN THIS CLASS-ACTION-CERTIFICATION PROCEEDING ALLEGING FAILURE TO PROVIDE NOTICE OF PAY RATE AND PAY DAY AS REQUIRED BY LABOR LAW SECTION 195(1), THE COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE GRANTED CERTIFICATION FOR THE CLAIM FOR LIQUIDATED DAMAGES AND SHOULD NOT HAVE GRANTED THE REQUEST FOR THE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF CLASS MEMBERS WHOSE CLASS-ACTION NOTICE WAS RETURNED AS UNDELIVERABLE (FIRST DEPT).
Lost Profits Not Recoverable—Too Speculative and Not Contemplated in the Agreement

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

PLAINTIFF WAS USING A CLOSED A-FRAME LADDER WHEN IT SLIPPED OUT FROM UNDER HIM;... ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF FELL FROM A LADDER, HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION...