The Supreme Court of Minnesota, in a split decision involving two companion cases, held the federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C.S. §§ 801-971, preempts an order made pursuant to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Law requiring an employer to reimburse an...
Agreeing that an injured employee had sufficiently shown that medical marijuana represented reasonable and necessary medical treatment under New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed a decision by a lower appellate court that...
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reversed—for a second time—a decision of the state’s Compensation Appeals Board that had found workers’ compensation carriers for New Hampshire employers could not be required to reimburse an injured worker...
In a case of first impression, a New York appellate court affirmed an order entered by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board allowing a medical treatment variance in the form of medical marijuana for an injured worker who suffered from continuing pain after a...
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held a workers' compensation insurer need not reimburse an injured employee for the costs of medical marijuana in spite of the fact that the worker was evaluated for, and was issued, a certification to enroll in Massachusetts...
The Supreme Court of Kansas agreed that the widow of a worker who sustained fatal injuries in a fall at work rebutted the presumption of intoxication afforded the employer where two drug tests showed the presence of marijuana in the worker's system, but other...
An Arkansas appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that a worker who suffered a partial traumatic amputation of a finger as she tried to dislodge material from a jammed cutting machine, and who subsequently tested positive...
The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, in a case of first impression, affirmed a workers’ compensation judge’s finding that an employer was required to reimburse its employee for the employee’s use of medical marijuana dispensed under the state...
Signaling that at least in some cases, an employer and/or workers’ compensation carrier might be required to reimburse an injured worker for the cost of medical marijuana provided under New York’s version of the Compassionate Care Act, a state appellate court held...
A widow’s wrongful death action filed against her deceased husband’s employer for its failure to implement and maintain a substance abuse policy is barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Act, held a state appellate...
In a decision that cast some light on the issue of medical marijuana use by workers’ compensation claimants in New Hampshire, but which did not answer all pertinent questions definitively, the state’s Supreme Court held that the Appeals Board erred when it refused...
Reiterating that in Kansas, because of multiple concerns, the rules of evidence do not apply to workers’ compensation hearings, a Kansas appellate court held the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board should not have excluded the results of a marijuana...
The Supreme Court of Ohio, in a divided decision, held that a worker who tested positive for marijuana after seeking medical treatment for a work-related injury was nevertheless eligible for TTD benefits in spite of the fact that he had been fired after the injury...
Oakland – The California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) has published an analysis on the implications of the passage of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational use of marijuana in California, on employers, workers’ compensation insurers, and the state...
CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 81 No. 8 August 2016 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE ©...