Colorado high court to rule on whether employees can smoke pot when not at work

slimvictor

slimvictor

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DENVER — Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it.

Now, the state's highest court is considering whether workers' off-duty use of medical marijuana is protected under state law.

The case is being watched closely around the country and could have big implications for pot smokers in the first state to legalize recreational sales of the drug. Though the Colorado case involves medical marijuana, the court's decision could also affect how companies treat employees who use the drug recreationally.

Colorado's Supreme Court was scheduled to issue a ruling in the case of Brandon Coats, a medical marijuana patient fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test in 2010. Coats didn't use marijuana at work and wasn't accused of being high on the job.

cont at
http://www.startribune.com/colorado-court-to-decide-if-employees-can-smoke-pot-off-duty/307329621/
 
slimvictor said:
DENVER — Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it.

Now, the state's highest court is considering whether workers' off-duty use of medical marijuana is protected under state law.

The case is being watched closely around the country and could have big implications for pot smokers in the first state to legalize recreational sales of the drug. Though the Colorado case involves medical marijuana, the court's decision could also affect how companies treat employees who use the drug recreationally.

Colorado's Supreme Court was scheduled to issue a ruling in the case of Brandon Coats, a medical marijuana patient fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test in 2010. Coats didn't use marijuana at work and wasn't accused of being high on the job.

cont at
http://www.startribune.com/colorado-court-to-decide-if-employees-can-smoke-pot-off-duty/307329621/
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Tough situation. Part of me feels that certain jobs should have the right to tell employees not to ingest substances off the the job, that may continue to impair them on the job. That's unrealistic though, especially since everyone reacts differently. Some people may feel out of wack for days after puffing while some are fine the next day. Then what about alcohol? Some people feel messed up for days after a binge, should jobs be able to discipline those people? Pain medication is another one, when I got loratab for surgery my bosses made me come in even though I said I really felt off. Was completely unproductive, made a $10,000 dollar mistake and should have been allowed to stay home.

Will be interesting to see how this turns out.
 
How is that a question?? people smoke cigarettes and drink outside of work how is weed different?? I know plenty of people who work on perscrption medication that probably effects judgment just as much if not more than weed.
 
Colorado Supreme Court says companies can fire workers for using medical marijuana in their off-hours

Colorado is a state where many residents legally use marijuana. It is also a state where companies can fire employees for using the drug, even if that occurred when the person wasn’t at work.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that a business can fire an employee for using medical marijuana even if the employee is off-duty and abiding by state law, a decision that could have far-reaching ramifications in a state that has decriminalized most marijuana use.

The justices said that employees can still be fired because marijuana remains illegal in the eyes of the federal government, making this case a high-profile example of the sharp divide between state laws and the federal law. This chasm affects nearly two dozen states that allow legal medical marijuana, as well as a growing effort across the country to legalize recreational marijuana, following in the footsteps of Colorado and other states.

While the ruling does not specifically mention Colorado’s highly publicized and thriving recreational marijuana industry, focusing instead on medical marijuana, it could reverberate across a state that allows anyone 21 and older to legally buy and use marijuana.

In Colorado, about one in seven residents said they use marijuana, according to data released Monday by the state Department of Public Health and Environment. And about a third of the people who defined themselves as current marijuana users last year said they used it daily.

The opinion released Monday dealt with an employee who was fired because he used medical marijuana. Under Colorado state law, it is considered discriminatory “for an employer to terminate the employment of any employee due to that employee’s engaging in any lawful activity off the premises of the employer during nonworking hours.”

In the case, Coats v. Dish Network, Brandon Coats argued that the satellite provider violated this statute by firing him for using medical marijuana after work, because he was acting in accordance with Colorado law. Coats is a quadriplegic who has used a wheelchair since he was a teenager, according to court filings, and he obtained a medical marijuana license in 2009.

Coats worked for Dish until 2010, when he tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC, the active mind-altering ingredient in marijuana) during a random drug test. He was fired for violating the company’s drug policy.

A trial court dismissed Coats’s claim that he had been wrongfully terminated, and an appeals court upheld that decision. The state’s Supreme Court, in an opinion delivered by Justice Allison H. Eid, agreed with the lower courts, determining that despite the state law, Coats’s marijuana use can’t be considered lawful because it violates federal law.

cont at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...r-using-medical-marijuana-in-their-off-hours/
 
One of the (many) reasons I'm opposed to workplace drug testing is that the tests they use also detect a wide range of legal prescription pharmaceuticals. If marijuana is legal, this is covered under that umbrella.

It is none of your employer's business if you are legally prescribed Valium for anxiety, or Ritalin for ADHD, or marijuana for chronic pain. They should not be allowed to force you to disclose your private medical history, which may (as in this case) open to you to discrimination.
 
I am in agreement as well. Since I'm on methadone and the majority of ppl (I partly blame bmore for this) think that methadone is what hard core junkies with no teeth and a felony arrest recordtake. Never mind it's given for pain management...

When I got my job I had to prove I was on meth and benzos as to not have it be mentioned toy employer. I was actually let go from a job when they found out I was on methadone. I was still under the 90 days or whatever but since MD is an at will state, they just got rid of me and said it was something else.

Oh and BTW/ it was only rx meds. Nothing illegal.

So yup, medical patients should be allowed to smoke. And rec patients should too...what's the diff of drinking a few beers after work. Everyone has their own way to decompress.
 
It depends on the job. I wouldn't want my emergency surgery doctor smoking dabs in the break room before giving me deep brain surgery. And that has nothing to do with how he can handle it and everything to do with the fact he's responsible for me when I can't be, and I wouldn't smoke before I did it.

I think in some situations it's ok while others it's not. Let's face it marijuana just is more intoxicating then Advil and harder to have "half a beer" then alcohol as far as not getting intoxicated. That's not a bad thing at all but it needs to be acknowledged.
 
^More or less. If we're talking about someone sitting in an office making spreadsheets, then imo if the only way their employer can tell that they're smoking weed outside of work hours is through a drug test, then it shouldn't matter anyway. On the flip side, if we're talking high stakes situations like surgery, heavy machinery, flight traffic control, etc. then I think it's better to play it safe than sorry.
 
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