Posted on 12/10/2012 2:41:24 PM PST by Road Glide
DENVER — A Dish Network telephone operator who was fired when he failed a drug test is suing his former employer, saying they infringed on his right to use medical marijuana away from the office.
There was no evidence that Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana user, was impaired while he was on the clock. And that’s why he said his legal usage of medical marijuana should not have cost him his job in May of 2010.
Coats’ case is pending in the Colorado Court of Appeals. If he loses the case, it could mean 175,000 individuals using medical marijuana in Colorado are in jeopardy of losing their jobs.
If he wins, it could mean big things for pot users.
A win for Coats could also mean tough luck for employers clinging to drug policies that are still seeking to prohibit their employees from using marijuana entirely in the wake of Amendment 64′s passage.
(Excerpt) Read more at kdvr.com ...
“The problem is that marijuana impairs logic even after it ‘wears off’.”
Really? Permanently? If not permanently, then for how long?
And all these facts and opinions cme from what expert source?
There are people with technical professional expertice in the subject of alcohol and drug addictions, and the related physical, mental aspects.
It is widely sstated that while “under the influence” a person’s judgement is impaired.
I just never heard that his “logic as you call it was impacted when he was no longer “under the influence.”
Now if you are talking about a strongly addicted drug or alcohol user, then maybe they can be so desparate for their next dosage, that they would steal from their employer, or lie about business.
Just looking for specifics about your statement about “logic.”
What happens if they adopt a ‘drug free policy’ AFTER you are hired? For some workers comp discount (that usually costs more to drug test than the discount, but they can’t admit it)?
It’s malarky when you can pass a drug test after smoking crack if you are tested three days later, but fired for smoking pot 28 days earlier, on the weekend.
“Just looking for specifics about your statement about “logic.”
I’ve seen it destroy lives too many times and in each case, they were supposedly ‘sober’ when they went off the deep end. It may have had something to do with, as you say, ‘needing their next fix’ but I’ll never know that.
Companies to random drug testing to protect themselves from liability and to ensure that their work force performs at peak standards and it is within the company rights to set those standards. If no drugs or alcohol and random spot checks are company policy, the employees all know what it means.
And I bet your employees give you their all.
In my experience, employers who respect our WORK and not our private life get the best employees. It’s the ones who want to be slave owners who get crappy employees. And ironically, those are the ones who complain about their employees.
Time to end prohibition.
The notion of a free population being made to pee in cups for the privilege of working is well... ironic.
The irony is that if Michelle Obama was forcing them to take a cholesterol test to see if they were eating properly, they would be SCREAMING!
>> A business should be able to fire an employee for any reason.
Exactly. Problem solved. Nothing more than that needs to be said. This is what I refer to as true libertarianism.
Funny, the people who hold power, make the big decisions, the Congress, the president, the senators, school teachers, firemen and cops, judges, mayors, city council members, governors etc, are not randomly tested...Yet the lowly underpaid cubic workers are?
Who's kidding whom?
Those same power brokers also are exempt from Obamacare and have other special benefits, but not enough people are willing to hold them accountable. If it was up to me, I’d drug test them all, but they are part of the public sector workers, not private sector.
Obviously, the statute does not cover on-duty activities. Employers can prohibit employees from being high on duty just like they can prohibit them from being under the influence on duty. Employers can prohibit employees from drinking, smoking cigs or pot while on duty.
You own the company asshole?
What an odd thing about which to brag.
Like drug stores firing people for refusing to sell birth control?
Military, govt employees and defense contractors are all randomly tested.
govt employees are all randomly tested.
Bull shit!
When is the last time they lined up Congress & their staffs, the Senate, Cops, Firemen, mayors, city council, the IRS, judges, police chiefs, the president, DMV clerks, and the millions in every single big government department in the U.S., for their routine RANDOM drugs tests?
BS!~
They do it all the time on the bases in Norfolk area, even GS14&15s
See the tag line below.
I can only talk about those govt employees that I have actual knowledge about.
A business should be able to fire at will. Don't like who they fire don't shop there
Now you say: "I can only talk about those govt employees that I have actual knowledge about".
Which is it?
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