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A federal court has dismissed efforts made by Alaska Airlines to rescind an order that reinstated an employee who was fired by the American airline over a positive THC test. The employee in question, Gregory Chappell, underwent a random drug test in July 2022. The results showed that the THC metabolite levels were above the minimum threshold. As a result, he was fired from his job as a lead aircraft maintenance technician.
THC is one of the two primary compounds found in cannabis, the other being CBD. Unlike CBD, THC induces a high when consumed.
Chappell maintained that he hadn’t used cannabis, claiming that it was possible he’d unknowingly consumed an edible at a block party he’d attended as the goods hadn’t been labeled. The airline didn’t look into this claim and, instead, relied on its policy on the use of drugs by safety sensitive employees.
The termination was soon challenged by his union, with an arbitration panel reversing the airline’s decision in October 2023. This led the airline to file a suit in federal court to overrule the decision made by the arbitration board. In its lawsuit, Alaska Airlines argued that it was undisputed that the employee failed the cannabis test, noting that the claim made by Chappell that he may have accidentally ingested a cannabis edible at a neighborhood party was a bizarre speculation.
This sentiment wasn’t shared by the federal courts though, with U.S. District Judge John H. Chun rejecting the airline’s challenge. In his ruling, Judge Chun explained that the arbitration board didn’t act ultra vires and ordered that Chappell be rehired.
He also awarded costs and attorneys’ fees for the case to the union and remanded the matter to the board to calculate how they’d awarded benefits and backpay for the period.
Chappell’s attorney, Lee Seham, explained that the case highlighted the current conflict between the federal and state governments over marijuana’s legality. He added that the courts upholding the board’s decision reaffirmed that we were living in a different age where cannabis was everywhere. The attorney made similar statements about cannabis’ changing legal landscape in an opinion editorial published in 2023.
In it, Seham stated that America had reached a point of no return both in terms of economics and culture with regard to marijuana, noting that over 50% of individuals in the country lived in jurisdictions where the recreational use of the drug was legal. He explained that the time had come to stop groundlessly destroying careers based on cannabis tests that said nothing about impairment.
The airline company is yet to comment about this latest federal ruling.
This ruling of the federal court is likely to be welcomed across the marijuana industry, including by established entities like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) that would like to see an environment in which people aren’t in fear of legally using medical or recreational marijuana thinking that they could be fired once they test positive for the substance even if they weren’t impaired at work and only used the products while off-duty.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ
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