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Greisen Medlock won a first-of-its kind whistleblower case under the Affordable Care Act.

A regional marijuana dispensary fired our client after she complained that her employer was not providing health insurance. As a cancer survivor, she had started working in Colorado’s legal marijuana industry because she had personally benefited from using medical marijuana during her cancer treatment. Soon, she became a store’s assistant manager, got a raise, and had positive performance evaluations. But because of her history with cancer and the company’s refusal to provide employer-based coverage, she  signed up to buy her own health care coverage on the Obamacare marketplace.

The Colorado marketplace sent a letter to the company stating that because she had signed up for coverage, the company may have to pay a tax penalty. Just a few days later, our client was fired. Though the company claimed she was fired for poor performance, her boss and the employees she managed all testified that she was wonderful to work with. Corporate retaliation took our client’s job, but Greisen Medlock won back her lost wages and provided justice.

The Affordable Care Act’s anti-retaliation provisions protect employees who speak out about their employer not providing coverage, or who receive their own coverage through the marketplace. Greisen Medlock’s case was the first of its kind to go to trial in this rarely litigated area of law. The case began when Paula Greisen filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose investigator found the company had retaliated against our client. The company then appealed to a U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge, who held a week-long trial. A year later, the judge issued a 66-page order finding for our client.