Pennsylvania warehouse worker demoted and forced to take 50% pay cut due to medical marijuana card

A Pennsylvania supermarket warehouse worker was punished by his employer with a demotion and a 50% pay cut after it was discovered that he was taking medical marijuana.

Blake Longenecker was working at Weis Markets distribution center located 16 South Industrial Park Road in Milton, Pennsylvania, when he says his legal medical marijuana card fell out of his wallet. 

Longenecker claims that after his marijuana use became unintentionally known at work, the company sent him home for five days. He was then demoted to a different role at the supermarket and was forced to take a drastic pay cut. 

His primary role was selecting products and placing them on the truck, but after the fiasco was moved to the stock area and his hourly salary went from $22 per hour to $12 per hour. 

An attorney representing Longenecker said his client had to quit, as a result of the pay cut. 

A civil action lawsuit against the grocery store was filed on September 9, 2021 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and obtained by DailyMail.com.

The suit alleges that Longenecker was discriminated against due to his marijuana use, and was based on three counts: ADA discrimination, ADA retaliation and violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA).

The company denied discriminating against Longenecker, and told him he could return to work ‘in a position that would not require him to operate power equipment,’ MorningCall reported. 

Weis operates 196 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Virginia and Delaware, with its headquarters in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

It is legal to buy or consume marijuana from a state-approved dispensary in Pennsylvania if you are a medical marijuana patient – however, it is not yet legal recreationally.

Neighboring states, New York and New Jersey, have legalized marijuana for all uses. 

According to the suit, Longenecker began working at the grocery chain as a temporary worker around November 2020. A year later he was hired full-time. 

Longenecker had a medical marijuana card for anxiety. 

On February 19, 2021, Longenecker was reprimanded and sent home for five days. On February 25, 2021, he learned that he was being demoted upon his return back to work solely on the basis that he had a medical marijuana card.

Longenecker told his employer that he ‘could not afford to work for $12 per hour,’ the complaint said. When he asked if a ‘negative drug test would allow him to keep his regular job as selector/picker, Weis Distribution Center Human Resource Manager Paul Miller denied his request. 

According to the suit, Longenecker had never received a positive drug test. On or about February 28, 2021, Longenecker was forced to leave his position due to the massive reduction in pay. 

The suit alleges that the defendants subjected their employee to a hostile work environment and retaliation, with no valid business purpose or justification. 

The suit alleges that as a result, Longenecker has suffered and continues to suffer ‘monetary damages and damages for mental suffering and humiliation unless and until the court grants relief. 

DailyMail.com reached out to Longenecker’s attorney, David A Berlin and Mathew Weisberg of Weisberg Law, and Gary Schafkopf of Schafkopf Law, but they did not respond to our request for comment. 

The case was terminated in April 20, 2022 after the two sides privately resolved the lawsuit and asked a judge to dismiss the case, MorningCall reported.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman used his Labor Day meeting with President Joe Biden to push for decriminalizing marijuana. 

Fetterman, who is up against Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate endorsed by Donald Trump, has run ads on the issue of marijuana legalization.

During the conversation with Biden in early September, Fetterman ‘continued to advocate for the President to use his executive authority to begin the process of rescheduling marijuana, so that people convicted of nonviolent offenses can go on with their lives,’ campaign Communications Director Joe Calvello told MarijuanaMoment in a statement.

Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, has been a longtime advocate for marijuana legalization and has made it a centerpiece of his Senate campaign.

Most Pennsylvania’s support decriminalization, according to polls. 

Biden previously opposed fully legalizing marijuana but shifted toward supporting decriminalization during the 2020 presidential campaign.

‘President Biden believes that there are too many people serving unduly long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes — a disproportionate number of whom are black and brown,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said ahead of the Fetterman meeting. 

Jean-Pierre said Biden sees it as a state issue.