Posted in Personal Injury Lawyer
San Antonio drug counselor Melanie Farr has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, Management & Training Corp., for not allowing her to use CBD oil to treat her multiple sclerosis symptoms.
Farr placed drops of CBD oil under her tongue to improve her multiple sclerosis symptoms. It alleviated her pain, reduced her blood pressure and improved her gait. Unfortunately, it also got her fired when she failed a drug test.
On Feb. 14, 2019, Farr was instructed to take a random drug test at work. She told the lab technician administering the test that she took CBD oil on her doctor’s recommendation because she knew it could trigger a false positive for THC.
The lawsuit alleges that Farr was pulled out of a group session and told by her supervisor that she had tested positive for marijuana. She was put on administrative leave even though she informed her boss that her use of CBD oil caused the false positive.
Farr’s supervisor told her that she had to provide a doctor’s note confirming that she was prescribed CBD oil by a doctor.
Farr then forwarded a doctor’s note saying that she had been taking CBD oil for chronic pain since January 2019.
“CBD oil does not contain THC,” the doctor wrote in the note. “We will report UDS (urine drug screening) test in office as well. Patient has no current history of current drug use.”
However, Management & Training Corp. still terminated Farr on March 8, 2019 for failing the drug test.
Farr said that her supervisor knew she was taking CBD oil for her multiple sclerosis.
“We discussed it many, many times,” she said. “I worked there a long time taking it. I’m a counselor. That’s what I do. So if I was high, somebody would have said something. It was clear I wasn’t high.”
“They should have allowed her to continue using what was an appropriate medication for her, for her condition,” said Farr’s San Antonio lawyer, Michael V. Galo Jr.
The lawsuit accuses Management & Training Corp. of unlawfully discriminating against Farr because of her disability.
Farr seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as lost wages and benefits from the lawsuit.