WINFIELD – A Putnam County man says he wasn’t hired for a job because he is a medical cannabis patient.
Kevin Jarrett filed his complaint August 30 against State Electric Supply Company in Putnam Circuit Court.
According to the complaint, Jarrett applied for employment with State Electric, and his application was accepted. State Electric offered him employment that he accepted. State Electric required him to submit to a pre-employment drug test.
Thomas H. Peyton
| peytonlawfirm.com
Jarrett is a patient under the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, and he said he did not conceal that status during the employment process.
When the pre-employment drug testing confirmed he was a user of medical cannabis, Jarrett says the defendant rescinded the employment offer.
“Some of our corporate heads have old-fashioned views, and, in some cases, they just will not bend,” the defendant said, according to the complaint. “State Electric has a zero tolerance policy … regardless of whether it’s medical or recreational it does not matter. So we are going to … be retracting that offer.”
Jarrett says the defendant’s actions go against the Medical Cannabis Act. He says he has suffered aggravation, annoyance, inconvenience, past and future lost wages, loss of employment benefits, humiliation, embarrassment, emotional and mental distress and loss of personal dignity.
He seeks compensatory damages, attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief. He also asks the court to enjoin State Electric from engaging in further discriminatory practices and require it to participate and/or implement an education program about discrimination and wrongful conduct regarding medical cannabis.
Jarrett is being represented by Thomas Peyton of Peyton Law Firm in Nitro.
Putnam Circuit Court case number 23-C-122
