Court Opinion

ID: 9782245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 18:13:40.332698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:54.092340
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
Under this state’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5; hereafter the Compassionate Use Act), doctor-recommended marijuana use as a medical treatment *934is “not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.” (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(B).) In a decision conspicuously lacking in compassion, however, the majority holds that an employer may fire an employee for such marijuana use, even when it occurs during off-duty hours, does not affect the employee’s job performance, does not impair the employer’s legitimate business interests, and provides the only effective relief for the employee’s chronic pain and muscle spasms. I disagree.
The majority’s holding disrespects the will of California’s voters who, when they enacted the Compassionate Use Act, surely never intended that persons who availed themselves of its provisions would thereby disqualify themselves from employment. Moreover, as I will explain, unless an employer can demonstrate that an employee’s doctor-approved use of marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act while off duty and away from the jobsite is likely to impair the employer’s business operations in some way, or that the employer has offered another reasonable and effective form of accommodation, the employer’s discharge of the employee is disability discrimination prohibited by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.; hereafter the FEHA).
I agree with the majority, however, that because federal law prohibits marijuana possession (21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 844(a)), discharging an employee for off-duty, physician-recommended marijuana use will not support a claim of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy (see Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167 [164 Cal.Rptr. 839, 610 P.2d 1330]).
I
As a result of injuries he sustained in January 1983 during his service with the United States Air Force, plaintiff Gary Ross suffers from a lower back strain and muscle spasms. In September 1999, after muscle relaxants and conventional medications had failed to provide relief from the pain and muscle spasms, and on his doctor’s recommendation, plaintiff began using marijuana as a medication for his back problems.
In September 2001, plaintiff accepted a job with defendant RagingWire Telecommunications, Inc. (RagingWire), as a lead systems administrator. Since beginning treatment with marijuana, plaintiff had held similar employment, and his disability and marijuana use had not impaired his job performance. After hiring plaintiff, RagingWire required him to take a drug test. Plaintiff gave the clinic administering the test a copy of his doctor’s written recommendation to use marijuana in accordance with the state Compassionate Use Act.
*935Not surprisingly, plaintiff’s test results were positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical in marijuana. Plaintiff presented his doctor’s marijuana recommendation to RagingWire’s human resources director, explaining that he used marijuana to treat his chronic back pain in accordance with the state Compassionate Use Act. Nevertheless, without offering any other form of accommodation for his back condition, RagingWire discharged plaintiff because of his at-home, doctor-recommended marijuana use.
Plaintiff sued RagingWire for disability discrimination in violation of the FEHA, breach of contract, and wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. The trial court sustained RagingWire’s demurrer without leave to amend and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint, and the Court of Appeal affirmed.
II
In November 1996, the California electorate enacted Proposition 215, an initiative measure entitled “Medical Use of Marijuana.” Proposition 215 added section 11362.5 to the Health and Safety Code. That section provides:
“(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
“(b)(1) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows:
“(A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.
“(B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.
“(C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.
“(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes.
*936“(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes.
“(d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient’s primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician.
“(e) For the purposes of this section, ‘primary caregiver’ means the individual designated by the person exempted under this section who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person.” (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5.)
Although the Compassionate Use Act was the first law of its kind in the nation, at least nine states now have similar laws.1 (See Gonzales v. Raich (2005) 545 U.S. 1, 5, fn. 1 [162 L.Ed.2d 1, 125 S.Ct. 2195].) In two other states, Florida and Idaho, appellate court decisions have recognized a medical necessity defense for persons charged with illegal marijuana possession or cultivation. (Sowell v. State (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1998) 738 So.2d 333, 334; State v. Hastings (1990) 118 Idaho 854 [801 P.2d 563, 565].)
Courts must construe statutes to effectuate the purpose of the law. (Coachella Valley Mosquito & Vector Control Dist. v. California Public Employment Relations Bd. (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1072, 1087 [29 Cal.Rptr.3d 234, 112 P.3d 623].) As explained by the statute’s words quoted above, the purpose of the Compassionate Use Act is to allow California residents to use marijuana, when a doctor recommends it, to treat medical conditions, including chronic pain, without being subject “to criminal prosecution or sanction.” (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(B), italics added.) The majority’s construction defeats, rather than effectuates, that purpose. The majority renders illusory the law’s promise that responsible use of marijuana as a medical treatment will be free of sanction. The majority allows employers to impose the sanction of job termination on those employees who use marijuana under the statute’s provisions. The majority’s decision leaves many Californians with serious illnesses just two options: continue receiving the benefits of marijuana use “in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or . . . other illness” (Health & *937Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(A)) and become unemployed, giving up what may be their only source of income, or continue in their employment, discontinue marijuana treatment, and try to endure their chronic pain or other condition for which marijuana may provide the only relief. Surely this cruel choice is not what California voters intended when they enacted the state' Compassionate Use Act.
Nor is this cruel choice something that the FEHA permits. One of the FEHA’s stated purposes is “to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgement on account of . . . physical disability . . . [or] medical condition . . . .” (Gov. Code, § 12920.) The FEHA recognizes that “the practice of denying employment opportunity ... [on account of physical disability or medical condition] deprives the state of the fullest utilization of its capacities for development and advancement, and substantially and adversely affects the interest of employees, employers, and the public in general.” (Gov. Code, § 12920.) Under the FEHA, it is an unlawful employment practice “[f]or an employer ... to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee” (id., § 12940, subd. (m)) or “to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with [an] employee or applicant to determine effective reasonable accommodations” (id., § 12940, subd. (n)). The FEHA directs that its provisions are to be construed liberally to accomplish each of its purposes. (Id., § 12993, subd. (a).)
The majority says that the FEHA requires the employer to make only “reasonable accommodation” for an employee’s disability (Gov. Code, § 12940, subd. (m)), and that accepting an employee’s physician-approved, off-duty marijuana use for medical treatment is not a “reasonable accommodation” because federal law prohibits marijuana possession (21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 844(a)). I disagree.
The FEHA sets forth an illustrative list of measures that may constitute reasonable accommodation, including (1) “[m]aking existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to, and useable by, individuals with disabilities,” and (2) “[j]ob restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, adjustment or modification of examinations, training materials or policies, [and] the provision of qualified readers or interpreters . . . .” (Gov. Code, § 12926, subd. (n)(l), (2), italics added.) Thus, the accommodations that the FEHA requires may include adjustment or modification of an employer’s policy, such as a policy concerning employee drug use.
*938Nothing in the text of the FEHA or in California decisional law supports the proposition that a requested accommodation can never be deemed reasonable if it involves off-duty conduct by the employee away from the jobsite that is criminal under federal law, even though that same conduct is expressly protected from criminal sanction under state law. Rather, under the FEHA, determining whether an employee-proposed accommodation is reasonable requires consideration of its benefits to the employee (including its effectiveness in meeting the employee’s disability-related needs and enabling the employee to competently perform the essential job functions), the burdens it would impose on the employer and other employees, and the availability of suitable and effective alternative forms of accommodation. (See US Airways, Inc. v. Barnett (2002) 535 U.S. 391, 403-404 [152 L.Ed.2d 589, 122 S.Ct. 1516] [proposed accommodation not reasonable because it would conflict with seniority rights of other employees]; Oconomowoc Residential Prog. v. City of Milwaukee (7th Cir. 2002) 300 F.3d 775, 784 [“Whether a requested accommodation is reasonable or not is a highly fact-specific inquiry and requires balancing the needs of the parties.”]; Alley v. Charleston Area Med. Center, Inc. (2004) 216 W.Va. 63 [602 S.E.2d 506, 516] [“ ‘reasonable accommodation means reasonable modifications or adjustments to be determined on a case-by-case basis which are designed as attempts to enable an individual with a disability to be hired or to remain in the position for which he or she was hired . . .’”].)
The FEHA does not require an employer to make any accommodation that the employer can demonstrate would impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of its business. (Gov. Code, § 12940, subd. (m).) The FEHA defines an “ ‘[u]ndue hardship’ ” as “an action requiring significant difficulty or expense, when considered in light of the following factors; [][] (1) The nature and cost of the accommodation needed. [][] (2) The overall financial resources of the facilities involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodations, the number of persons employed at the facility, and the effect on expenses and resources or the impact otherwise of these accommodations upon the operation of the facility. [][] (3) The overall financial resources of the covered entity, the overall size of the business of a covered entity with respect to the number of employees, and the number, type, and location of its facilities. [][] (4) The type of operations, including the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce of the entity, [f] (5) The geographic separateness, administrative, or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities.” (id., § 12926, subd. (s).)
Here, plaintiff’s complaint alleges in substance that marijuana use is essential to provide him relief from the chronic pain and muscle spasms of his disabling back condition, that more conventional medications have not provided similar relief, and that effective treatment is necessary for him to work productively. RagingWire has not argued that plaintiff’s requested *939accommodation would interfere with the rights or interests of its other employees. Accordingly, the reasonableness of the proposed accommodation of allowing plaintiff to use marijuana at home, as an exception to RagingWire’s normal drug-screening policies, turns on how it would affect RagingWire’s legitimate interests as an employer and, more specifically, whether it would impose an “undue hardship”—defined as “an action requiring significant difficulty or expense”—on the operation of the RagingWire’s business. (Gov. Code, §§ 12940, subd. (m), 12926, subd. (s); see Bagatti v. Department of Rehabilitation (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 344, 356 [118 Cal.Rptr.2d 443].) To establish that plaintiff’s proposed accommodation was unreasonable, therefore, RagingWire must show that, because marijuana possession is illegal under federal law, an employee’s off-duty and offsite use of marijuana would adversely affect its business operations.
RagingWire cites the state Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1990 (Gov. Code, § 8350 et seq.) as demonstrating that employers are not required to tolerate marijuana use by their employees. Under that legislation, persons or organizations that provide property or services to any state agency are required to certify that they will “provide a drug-free workplace” (id., § 8355), which is defined as “a site ... at which employees of the entity are prohibited from engaging in the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of a controlled substance” (id., § 8351, subd. (a)). The term “controlled substance” is defined to include any substance, like marijuana, listed in schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. § 812). (Gov. Code, § 8351, subd. (c).) Under federal law, federal grant recipients are subject to a similar drug-free workplace requirement. (41 U.S.C. § 702.)
RagingWire argues that, under these state and federal laws, tolerating plaintiff’s doctor-approved marijuana use would jeopardize its ability to contract with state agencies or to obtain federal grants. Both the state and federal drug-free workplace laws are concerned only with conduct at the jobsite, however. RagingWire argues that an employee who ingested marijuana at home but remained under its influence at work might be viewed as “using” marijuana at work. But plaintiff has not sought an accommodation that would allow him to possess or be under the influence of marijuana at work. The drug-free workplace laws are not concerned with employees’ possession or use of drugs like marijuana away from the jobsite, and nothing in those laws would prevent an employer that knowingly accepted an employee’s use of marijuana as a medical treatment at the employee’s home from obtaining drug-free workplace certification.
Because this case arises on demurrer, RagingWire has presented no evidence to substantiate its claim that accommodating plaintiff’s doctor-recommended use of marijuana would necessarily or likely have substantial *940adverse effects on its business operations. In the absence of such evidence, there is no basis for the majority to conclude that accommodating plaintiff’s doctor-approved marijuana use would be unreasonable within the meaning of the FEHA. Therefore, plaintiff’s complaint states a cause of action under California’s FEHA.
The majority appears to rely in part on Loder v. City of Glendale (1997) 14 Cal.4th 846 [59 Cal.Rptr.2d 696, 927 P.2d 1200] (Loder). There, the City of Glendale had adopted a drug testing program under which all job applicants who had conditionally been offered employment and all existing employees who had been approved for promotion to new positions were required to undergo urinalysis testing for a variety of illegal drugs. (Id. at pp. 852-853 (lead opn. of George, C. J.).) If the test revealed “the presence of drugs for which the applicant [had] no legitimate medical explanation, the applicant [was] disqualified from hiring or promotion . . . .” (Id. at p. 856, italics added.) A taxpayer sued to enjoin further expenditure of public funds for the drug testing program, arguing that the program violated, among other things, the state Constitution’s guarantee of the right of privacy. (14 Cal.4th at p. 856.) The trial court concluded that, as to both job applicants and current employees seeking promotion, the program was valid for some job classifications but not others, and it issued an injunction prohibiting use of the drug testing program for the job categories as to which it had found the program impermissible. (Id. at pp. 857-858.)
In Loder, a majority of this court acknowledged that an employer has a legitimate interest in determining whether job applicants and employees are abusing drugs, because drug abuse is commonly associated with increased absenteeism, diminished productivity, greater health costs, increased safety problems, potential liability to third parties, and more frequent turnover. (Loder, supra, 14 Cal.4th at pp. 882-883, 897 (lead opn. of George, C. J.); id. at pp. 927-928 (conc. & dis. opn. of Chin, J.).) “[A]n employer generally need not resort to suspicionless drug testing to determine whether a current employee is likely to be absent from work or less productive or effective as a result of current drug or alcohol abuse: an employer can observe the employee at work, evaluate his or her work product and safety record, and check employment records to determine whether the employee has been excessively absent or late.” (Id. at p. 883 (lead opn. of George, C. J.), italics added; see id. at p. 919 (conc. & dis. opn. of Kennard, J.).) For a job applicant, however, “an employer has not had a similar opportunity to observe the applicant over a period of time” and “reasonably may lack total confidence in the reliability of information supplied by a former employer or other references.” (Id. at p. 883 (lead opn. of George, C. J.).) Although the employer could observe the employee after hiring, “the hiring of a new employee frequently represents a considerable investment on the part of an employer . . .” and “once an applicant is hired, any attempt by the *941employer to dismiss the employee generally will entail additional expenses . . . .” (Ibid, (lead opn. of George, C. J.); see id. at pp. 927-928 (conc. & dis. opn. of Chin, J.).) Thus, “[t]he employer’s interest is a significant one, not only because the mistaken hiring of an individual who is abusing drugs or alcohol can impose significant financial burdens on an employer, but also because such an employee’s absences or diminished production frequently will create morale problems within the workplace.” (Id. at pp. 897-898 (lead opn. of George, C. J.).)
A necessary implication of this reasoning is that in the absence of a legitimate medical explanation, test results showing a job applicant’s drug use are generally a sufficient basis to deny employment. (See Loder, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 883, fn. 15 (lead opn. of George, C. J.); Pilkington Barnes Hind v. Superior Court (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 28, 34 [77 Cal.Rptr.2d 596].) Another necessary implication of Loder’s reasoning is that the likely impacts on the employer’s business operations—in the form of increased absenteeism, diminished productivity, greater health costs, increased safety problems, potential liability to third parties, and more frequent turnover—provide the appropriate yardstick for measuring the employer’s legitimate interests in this context.
Loder is not directly relevant here because plaintiff is not challenging RagingWire’s right to conduct preemployment drug testing, and because the program at issue in Loder sought to detect the presence of drugs “for which the applicant [had] no legitimate medical explanation” (Loder, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 856 (lead opn. of George, C. J.)). By contrast, plaintiff uses marijuana as a doctor-recommended treatment under the state Compassionate Use Act for a disabling physical condition. No evidence before this court establishes that use of a controlled substance under a doctor’s recommendation poses the same risks of excessive absences and diminished productivity that a majority of this court relied on in Loder to uphold a drug testing program.
Considered strictly in terms of its physical effects relevant to employee productivity and safety, and not its legal status, marijuana does not differ significantly from many prescription drugs—for example, hydrocodone (Vicodin), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), oxycodone (OxyContin), methylphenidate (Ritalin), methadone (Dolophine), and diazepam (Valium)—that may affect cognitive functioning and have a potential for abuse. The medical use of any such drug poses some risks of absenteeism and impaired productivity. Indeed, many nonprescription medications taken for the common cold, seasonal allergies, and similar minor afflictions frequently have side effects, such as drowsiness or dizziness, that may impair productivity. The majority does not deny that the FEHA may require an employer to accommodate a disabled *942employee’s doctor-approved medical use of other substances that potentially could impair job performance.
I conclude, for these reasons, that plaintiff’s complaint states a cause of action for disability discrimination under California’s FEHA.
in
In Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co., supra, 27 Cal.3d 167, this court held that “when an employer’s discharge of an employee violates fundamental principles of public policy, the discharged employee may maintain a tort action and recover damages traditionally available in such actions.” (Id. at p. 170.) That holding was based on the propositions that “an employer does not enjoy an absolute or totally unfettered right to discharge even an at-will employee,” and that “an employer’s traditional broad authority to discharge an at-will employee ‘may be limited by statute ... or by considerations of public policy.’ ” (Id. at p. 172.)
To support a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, a policy must be “delineated in either constitutional or statutory provisions”; it must be “ ‘public’ in the sense that it ‘inures to the benefit of the public’ rather than serving merely the interests of the individual”; it must have been well established “at the time of the discharge”; and it must be “fundamental” and “substantial.” (Stevenson v. Superior Court (1997) 16 Cal.4th 880, 894 [66 Cal.Rptr.2d 888, 941 P.2d 1157].) Here, to support his wrongful discharge claim, plaintiff relies on the public policies delineated in California’s FEHA and Compassionate Use Act.
The policies delineated in the Compassionate Use Act will not support plaintiff’s common law wrongful discharge claim. Although the aim of that initiative measure was to give qualified patients a right to use marijuana as treatment for illness without being subject to criminal prosecution or sanction (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(A), (B)), the measure implicitly recognized that achieving that goal fully would require the cooperation of the federal government; to this end, the measure included as another of its purposes “[t]o encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana” (id., § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(C)). To date, however, that goal has not been achieved, and simple possession of marijuana remains a crime under federal law, with no medical necessity exception or defense. (United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative (2001) 532 U.S. 483, 486, 494 [149 L.Ed.2d 722, 121 S.Ct. 1711].) That being so, qualified patients cannot be said to fully enjoy a right under state law to use marijuana as a medical treatment, nor can the state’s *943policy be deemed sufficiently fundamental and substantial to support a common law wrongful discharge claim.
Nor can plaintiff support his claim by the policies delineated in the FEHA or other laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled. As a general rule, the public policy against disability discrimination, articulated in the FEHA and other statutes, inures to the public’s benefit and is sufficiently substantial and fundamental to support a cause of action for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. (City of Moorpark v. Superior Court (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1143, 1159-1161 [77 Cal.Rptr.2d 445, 959 P.2d 752].) In the particular context of accommodating an employee’s physician-approved use of marijuana to treat a disabling medical condition, however, that policy must be viewed against the backdrop of both federal criminal laws, which prohibit marijuana possession without a medical use exception, and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.), which excludes from its protection “any employee or applicant who is currently engag[ed] in the illegal use of drugs, when the covered entity acts on the basis of such use” (42 U.S.C. § 12114(a)). A state law policy that rests on a proposition that Congress and federal law have rejected—here the proposition that marijuana has acceptable uses for medical treatment—cannot be considered sufficiently substantial and fundamental to support a common law tort claim for wrongful discharge.
Because plaintiff has not identified a policy that is sufficiently fundamental and substantial to support his wrongful discharge claim, I agree that the trial court did not err in sustaining RagingWire’s demurrer to that claim.
TV
California voters enacted the Compassionate Use Act to allow marijuana to be used for medical treatment on a doctor’s recommendation. Although there have been well-publicized abuses of the law for financial gain or personal gratification, the Legislature has acted to curb those abuses while still allowing marijuana to be available for those with genuine medical need. (See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11362.7-11362.9, added by Stats. 2003, ch. 875.) By its decision today, however, the majority has seriously compromised the Compassionate Use Act, denying to those who must work for a living its promised benefits “in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or . . . other illness” (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(A)). The majority gives employers permission to fire any employee who uses marijuana on a doctor’s recommendation, without requiring the employer to show that this medical use will in any way impair the employer’s business interests. Absent such a showing of business impairment, I would hold that neither the Compassionate *944Use Act nor the FEHA allows an employer to fire an employee for offsite and off-duty, doctor-recommended marijuana use as a medical treatment.
I would reverse the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Moreno, J., concurred.

 State and federal laws permitting marijuana use for medical purposes have existed at various times and in various forms, however, for many decades. (See Leary v. United States (1969) 395 U.S. 6, 16-18 & fn. 19 [23 L.Ed.2d 57, 89 S.Ct. 1532]; Note, Last Resorts and Fundamental Rights: The Substantive Due Process Implications of Prohibitions on Medical Marijuana (2005) 118 Harv. L.Rev. 1985, 1997-1998.)