Hall v. Recchi America Inc.

671 So. 2d 197, 1996 WL 117024
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 19, 1996
Docket94-2714
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 671 So. 2d 197 (Hall v. Recchi America Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Recchi America Inc., 671 So. 2d 197, 1996 WL 117024 (Fla. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

671 So.2d 197 (1996)

Astley HALL, Appellant,
v.
RECCHI AMERICA INC. and Palmer & Cay Carswell, Appellees.

No. 94-2714.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 19, 1996.
Rehearing Denied April 24, 1996.

*198 Jack J. Weiss, Miami, and Randy D. Ellison, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Robert L. Teitler of Walton, Lantaff, Schroeder & Carson, Miami, for appellees.

DAVIS, Judge.

Appellant, Astley Hall, appeals an order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) denying his workers' compensation claim solely on the basis that he had a positive drug test shortly after his accident at the employer's drug-free workplace. The JCC based the denial of benefits upon the conclusive presumption of section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes (1991), that an injury in a drug-free workplace to an employee who has positive confirmation of a drug shall be presumed to have been occasioned primarily by the intoxication of the employee. The JCC did not find, however, that marijuana ingestion by appellant primarily caused the injury. Because section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes (1991), establishes an irrebuttable or conclusive presumption which violates the constitutional right to due process, we reverse.

Recchi America established its drug and alcohol policy on April 1, 1991, nine months after the effective date of the workers' compensation drug-free workplace statutes, and three months after passage of the enabling division rules. See §§ 440.09(3), 440.09(7), 440.101, 440.102, Fla.Stat. (1991); Ch. 38F-9, Fla.Admin.Code. Their program included *199 notice, education and testing for drug abuse. The employer's policy statement explained:

In the interest of promoting a safer, healthier and more productive environment, Recchi America, Inc., has adopted the policy that all employees must be drug free in the workplace. That is, employees must be free from detectable amounts of controlled substances, other mind altering substances or their metabolites without regard to apparent impairment.

Prior to employment, prospective employees are given an employment package with an acknowledgement and acceptance statement and a general policy statement as to the purpose and intent behind the program, specific prohibitions and consequences under the policy, educational requirements, drug/alcohol screening policies and procedures, and specimen testing and search requirements. Their policy provides that any employee, chosen at random, may be required to submit to drug/alcohol screening upon request. It further provides that employees in job classifications that have a direct impact on the safety of themselves or others may be tested "on an indiscriminate basis." The policy also provides for testing based upon reasonable suspicion, defined to include "involvement in an accident which results in injury to the employee or a fellow employee or which causes property damage." Recchi America tests all employees involved in an accident.

The claimant worked for eight years with three different construction companies before joining Recchi America in May 1991. On May 20, 1991, he executed the employer's drug policy documents whereby he agreed to a pre-employment drug and alcohol screening and to random and/or indiscriminate screening for drugs and alcohol. He gave a urine sample at the time of his hiring that tested negative for each of the drugs screened by the lab. The policy documents explained that an employee could be terminated from his employment if he refused to take a test or tested positive for drugs or alcohol. The documents also indicated: "[i]n cases of injury, this will also mean a forfeiture of employee's eligibility for all medical and indemnity benefits."

On the morning of Thursday, June 13, 1991, three weeks after commencing work, the claimant and a co-worker were doing concrete form work. They were carrying a screed (a long steel apparatus) over their heads when the claimant's co-worker tripped over a steel form work and jabbed the screed into the back of the claimant's head. The claimant offered unrefuted testimony that he did nothing to cause the accident.

After his supervisor appeared on the scene, the claimant was taken to the Workers' Compensation Medical Center. Dr. Alan Yurkiewicz, the treating physician, testified that the claimant was alert, oriented and responsive. Dr. Yurkiewicz diagnosed a contusion to his head, a mild cervical strain, and a 4.5 centimeter laceration to his scalp that required 15 stitches to close. Dr. Yurkiewicz testified from his notes that he detected no altered consciousness or state of mind. He testified within a reasonable medical probability that all of the claimant's symptoms came from the blow to the head.

The claimant provided a urine sample for drug testing within 30 minutes of arriving at the Workers' Compensation Medical Center. Recchi America directed that the urine sample be sent to National Health Laboratories for analysis. Initially the claimant's urine was subject to immunoassay antibody reaction testing. See Fla.Admin.Code R. 59A-24.006(4)(e). The test result was two percent above the 100 nanogram per milliliter positive cut-off for marijuana metabolites. A confirmatory gas chromatography/mass spectrography analysis showed a 78 nanograms per milliliter level. See Fla.Admin.Code R. 59A-24.006(4)(f). The gas chromatography/mass spectrography test has a lower positive threshold due to a different extraction process. The claimant admitted he had smoked marijuana five days earlier on June 8, 1991, and maintained he had only smoked marijuana four or five times in the last fifteen years.

Dr. Jay Poupko, who holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and is a member of the University of Miami School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, does research in toxicology. He explained that, unlike alcohol, marijuana and other drugs are usually measured *200 in the urine rather than in the blood stream. Urine tests are inherently incapable of determining whether there is an active drug present in the individual. Dr. Poupko testified that the 78 nanograms per milliliter of inactive metabolite found in the claimant's urine was entirely consistent with the claimant having smoked marijuana five days before the accident as the claimant claimed. He explained that a person who smokes marijuana remains impaired for only four to six hours after ingestion of the drug. Based upon Dr. Poupko's testimony, the JCC found it probable that the claimant was not, at the time of the injury, impaired from marijuana ingestion.

In denying all benefits, the JCC concluded, "the Legislature intended to deny workers' compensation benefits to any employee who chooses to engage in drug use where their employer has implemented a drug-free workplace." In this appeal, the claimant maintains that the workers' compensation drug-free workplace statutes facially violate the Federal and Florida Constitutions by encouraging indiscriminate, suspicionless searches. He further argues that the irrebuttable presumption of causation provided in section 440.09(3), which results in forfeiture of workers' compensation benefits, violates due process and equal protection.

We hold that section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes (1991), establishes an irrebuttable or conclusive presumption which violates the constitutional right to due process. Section 440.09(3), provides, in pertinent part:

No compensation shall be payable if the injury was occasioned primarily by the intoxication of the employee ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
671 So. 2d 197, 1996 WL 117024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-recchi-america-inc-fladistctapp-1996.