By By NewsCore February 12, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said late Friday it will appeal a federal court decision to dismiss a lawsuit it filed against Walmart for firing an employee for using medical marijuana in accordance with state law.
Joseph Casias used marijuana to help treat the symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer, but was fired from his job at a Walmart in Battle Creek, Mich., after he tested positive for the drug.
Casias, who was the store’s 2008 Associate of the Year, claims that he never used marijuana while at work and never went to work while under the influence of pot.
But a federal court judge in Grand Rapids determined on Friday that the law does not require businesses to make accommodations for employees like Casias.
“We intend to appeal this disappointing decision,” Scott Michelman, staff attorney with the ACLU. “A choice between adequate pain relief and gainful employment is an untenable one that no patient should ever be forced to make. Yet Walmart forced Joseph to pay a stiff and unfair price for using a medicine allowed under state law that has had a life-changing positive effect for him.”
The ACLU will appeal the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
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