Offbeat | US court: Workers can be fired for using pot off-duty

Attorney Michael Evans, left, listens in his office in Denver, as his client Brandon Coats talks about the Colorado Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Coats being fired from his job after testing positive for the use of medical marijuana

Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that a medical marijuana patient who was fired after failing a drug test cannot get his job back. The case has big implications for employers and pot smokers across the United States in places where medical or recreational marijuana have been legalized. Twenty-three states and the capital Washington allow people to use medical marijuana.
Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational pot in 2012. Though the case involves medical marijuana, the court’s decision could also affect how companies treat employees who use the drug recreationally.
Brandon Coats is a quadriplegic who was fired by Dish Network, a satellite television and Internet provider, in 2010. The company agreed that Coats wasn’t high on the job but said it has a zero-tolerance drug policy.
The Colorado justices ruled yesterday that because marijuana is illegal under federal law, Coats’ use of the drug couldn’t be considered legal off-duty activity.
Courts in three other states have also ruled against medical marijuana patients fired for pot use.
Coats was paralyzed in a car crash as a teenager and has been a medical marijuana patient since 2009, when he discovered that pot helped calm violent muscle spasms. He was a telephone operator with Dish for three years before he failed a random drug test in 2010 and was fired.
Coats and his lawyers said after the ruling that the decision at least clarified the matter for workers.
“Although I’m very disappointed today, I hope that my case has brought the issue of use of medical marijuana and employment to light,” Coats said in a statement.
Dish Network applauded the ruling.