## Facts

- Three unemployment cases were consolidated on appeal: Braska (Challenge Manufacturing), Kemp (Hayes Green Beach Memorial Hospital), and Kudzia (Avasi Services), with the Unemployment Insurance Agency/Department appealing.
- Each claimant held a valid Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) registration card and used marijuana for medical purposes.
- Each claimant was terminated after an employer drug test returned positive for marijuana.
- No claimant was found to have used marijuana on the employer’s premises or to have been under the influence while working.
- The Michigan Compensation Appellate Commission (MCAC) denied benefits in each case, treating the positive test and related discharge as disqualifying misconduct or drug-related disqualification under the Michigan Employment Security Act (MESA).
- Separate circuit courts reversed the MCAC in each case and held the claimants eligible for benefits.
- In Braska’s case, he was injured at work, underwent a mandatory drug test, tested positive, disclosed his medical marijuana card and medical use, and was terminated under the employer’s drug-free workplace policy.

## Issues

1. Whether a qualifying MMMA patient, fired after a positive marijuana drug test from off-duty medical use, is disqualified from unemployment benefits under MESA.
2. Whether denying unemployment benefits in these circumstances is a prohibited “penalty” or denial of a “right or privilege” under the MMMA.
3. Whether the MMMA supersedes conflicting provisions of MESA as applied to MMMA-compliant medical marijuana use.

## Decision

- The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court orders and held all three claimants were entitled to unemployment benefits.
- The court held the agency’s denial of benefits based solely on positive tests attributable to MMMA-compliant use imposed a prohibited penalty under the MMMA.
- The court concluded that, to the extent MESA would disqualify claimants for MMMA-protected conduct, the MMMA’s supersession clause controlled.
- The court emphasized the ruling did not restrict employers from terminating employees for marijuana use; it addressed only state-imposed benefit disqualification.

## Legal Principles

- The MMMA prohibits subjecting a qualifying patient to a “penalty in any manner” or denying any “right or privilege” for medical marijuana use in compliance with the act.
- Disqualification from unemployment benefits by a state agency can constitute a prohibited MMMA “penalty” or denial of a “right or privilege.”
- The MMMA supersedes other Michigan laws to the extent of conflict; MESA provisions cannot be applied to impose state sanctions for MMMA-compliant medical use.
- A benefits denial cannot be justified by recasting protected marijuana use as a separate “drug test failure” when the positive test is directly caused by MMMA-protected conduct.
- MMMA protections apply only when the claimant’s use is in accordance with the act, including no use on the employer’s premises and not working under the influence.

## Conclusion

The court held that where employees used medical marijuana off-duty in compliance with the MMMA and were not impaired at work, the state could not deny unemployment benefits solely because they later tested positive for marijuana, even though employers remained free to terminate employment under workplace drug policies.


Braska v. Challenge Mfg. Co., 307 Mich. App. 340 (2014)