Worker cannot revoke agreement to add medical pot

An injured employee cannot revoke an employee compensation compromise and release agreement that they made with their employer to obtain medical marijuana that became legal in the state two years after the agreement was made.

in the Lehigh Specialty Melting Inc. v. Workers Compensation Appeal Board, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Court on Tuesday overturned and dismissed an employee compensation committee’s finding that the employee was not required to honor his end of the agreement.

Joseph Bosco sprained his lower back and suffered a herniated disc while at work, and his employer, Lehigh Specialty Melting Inc., accepted the lawsuit. They entered into a C&R agreement that was approved by a workers’ compensation judge in 2014. In the agreement, the employer agreed to pay medical expenses associated with the injury pending funding a Medicare shutdown agreement approved by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

However, Mr Bosco refused to sign the MSA papers because the agreement did not cover medical marijuana.

An industrial accident insurance judge found that Mr. Bosco was “trying to rewrite the agreement” and found that the company could send him a check for the value of the MSA and end his obligation to him if he continued to refuse Documents to sign. A workers’ compensation board overturned the decision, ruling that the judge was not empowered to require Mr Bosco to sign the MSA papers.

Lehigh Specialty appealed and the court overturned the board’s decision. The court found that Mr. Bosco stated that he understood the terms of the settlement and signed his approval from the labor court judge and was unable to “refuse to cooperate as he had promised in the C&R because the MSA and / or the employer does not pay for their use of medical marijuana. “