The Pennsylvania Superior Court’s Aug. 5 ruling on Palmiter v. Commonwealth Health Systems may have cemented precedent on a medical marijuana cardholder’s ability to sue an employer for discrimination, but laws governing the rights of Pennsylvania employees to use medical marijuana still remain murky, according to labor and employment lawyers.
The Superior Court’s Palmiter opinion affirmed a 2019 ruling from Judge Terrence Nealon of the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas that found an employee discharged for her status as a certified medical marijuana user had a private cause of action under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act to sue for wrongful termination. The opinion solidified an interpretation of the MMA under which many employment attorneys had already been operating since Nealon’s ruling.