CCRC settles medical marijuana lawsuit, defends hiring practices

A Pennsylvania continuing care retirement community has reached a settlement deal with a woman who claimed a job offer was withdrawn over her legal use of medical marijuana.

According to Law360, U.S. Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Edward G. Smith signed an order Wednesday dismissing the lawsuit filed by Michelle Ustaszeski-Hutchinson accusing Allentown, PA-based Phoebe-Devitt Homes, doing business as Phoebe Ministries, of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and state discrimination laws. 

Details of the settlement were not released. Smith gave the parties 90 days to finalize a written agreement, according to the media outlet.

Phoebe Ministries President and CEO Scott R. Stevenson told McKnight’s Senior Living that the CCRC stands behind its hiring practices.

“At Phoebe Ministries, our hiring practices are in compliance with appropriate state statutes, laws and, specifically, Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act, and we take great care to ensure our hiring practices are fair and thorough,” he said.

As McKnight’s Senior Living previously reported, Ustaszeski-Hutchinson alleged that she received an employment offer to be a resident care assistant at Phoebe Richland in Richlandtown, PA, in January but that a month later, she was told in an email that the offer was rescinded based on information collected during a pre-employment screening. 

The complaint stated that Ustaszeski-Hutchinson was legally using medical marijuana for post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder. She said that she showed her medical marijuana card during her medical examination and drug screening, which were part of the hiring process. She also said she sent a copy of the card to the company’s medical review officer.

Two weeks later, Ustaszeski-Hutchinson said, she received an email informing her that a conditional offer of employment had been rescinded based on information collected during the pre-employment screening process.

The complaint maintained that Phoebe Ministries acted in a “bigoted, willful and malicious manner” in withdrawing its employment offer based on her perceived disability as an illegal drug user. As a consequence, the complaint stated, Ustaszeski-Hutchinson was subjected to “humiliation, embarrassment and mental anguish.”

Ustaszeski-Hutchinson was seeking lost pay, benefits, lost future pay, compensatory damages for emotional pain and suffering, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.