Report: Widow's Death Benefits Halved for Husband's Use of Pot

Thursday, July 19, 2018 | 0

The wife of a ski lift operator who died in December is appealing the decision of Colorado’s largest workers’ compensation carrier to reduce her death benefits because of her husband’s use of marijuana, according to media reports.

Erika Lee’s husband was crushed by a ski escalator in Loveland, according to an Associated Press report. Her husband had marijuana in his system at the time of the fatal accident.

Recreational use of marijuana is legal in Colorado. But the state's workers' compensation laws also allow for benefits to be cut in half when an injured worker tests positive for a controlled substance.

Lee is reportedly scheduled to go before an administrative law judge “in the coming months” to appeal Pinnacol Assurance’s decision to reduce her death benefits.