Forest Hills man claims Allegheny County denied him job over medical marijuana
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A Forest Hills man claims in a lawsuit that he was rejected for a job as a corrections officer at the Allegheny County Jail because he is prescribed medical marijuana.
Andrew Reed filed the complaint against the county under the Americans with Disabilities Act in federal court, alleging that the county denied his employment because of existing health conditions.
In the complaint, filed Tuesday, Reed said he was born with flat foot syndrome and an inverted foot condition that has caused him severe and chronic pain for most of his life.
Still, the lawsuit said, he served in the Army, and sought a job as a corrections officer at the jail in September 2018.
He obtained a medical marijuana card from Pennsylvania on Sept. 4, 2018.
Reed was contacted to go through the screening process and scored better than a 95% on the initial test, according to the lawsuit. He then passed a physical fitness test and psychological exam.
In February 2019, the lawsuit said, he was notified he’d have to complete a drug screen.
Reed contacted the county’s human resources department to tell them that he used medical marijuana.
“The human resources representative … that Reed spoke with said that Reed’s status as a medical marijuana patient would not be a problem and informed Reed that they would continue to move Reed forward in the hiring process once they received a copy of his medical marijuana identification card.”
He provided the card, the complaint said, and took the drug test.
A short time later, the HR person contacted Reed, the lawsuit states, and told him “he would no longer be considered for the Corrections Officer position because ‘the legal team couldn’t come to a decision on whether to hire him’ because he tested positive for marijuana use.”
Reed offered to surrender his medical marijuana card if that was all that was preventing him from being hired, the complaint states. The HR representative said there was nothing they could do.
The lawsuit alleges that Reed was never informed that using medical marijuana would prevent his hiring.
The complaint also includes claims for violations of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act.
A spokeswoman for the county said she could not comment on pending litigation.