Worker’s drug test dooms workers’ comp claim after factory fall

He acknowledged smoking marijuana three to four times a week but denied using cocaine. His explanation: it must have been in the marijuana. 

The employer’s medical expert found cocaine metabolites above the confirmation cutoff and marijuana metabolites at more than four times the threshold. The conclusion: the worker was impaired at the time of the accident, and that impairment directly caused his injury. Cocaine causes altered alertness and inappropriate feelings of competence; marijuana impairs judgment and the ability to respond to unexpected situations. 

The claim was denied through the workers’ comp system. The worker challenged it in court in 2023, voluntarily dropped the case, then refiled in March 2025. 

That is where the procedural trouble set in. 

The trial court gave the worker until September 30, 2025 to name his expert witnesses. He missed it. He was also late on other filings. It was not until February 2026 – more than four months late, just 36 days before trial – that he produced a rebuttal expert, tacked onto his response to the employer’s bid to end the case. The court was blunt: the late disclosure was “not fair and it is unprofessional.” It excluded the report.