Colorado Supreme Court rules employees can be fired for smoking pot off-duty


Just because Colorado has legalized recreational pot doesn't mean employers have to tolerate their workers smoking it in their free time, the state's Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic and a medical marijuana patient, was fired from his job at Dish Network in 2010 after he failed a random drug test. Even though Dish acknowledges that Coats wasn't high on the job, the company maintains its strict, zero-tolerance drug policy for employees. Monday's ruling means Coats is not entitled to reinstatement at Dish.
Colorado's Constitution "specifically states that employers don't have to amend their policies to accommodate employees' marijuana use," the Associated Press reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Because 23 states now allow medical marijuana, the ruling will likely have implications for the way cases like this are handled in the future.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Stephanie is an editorial assistant at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Modern Luxury Media.
-
Shaky starts: A jobs drought for new grads
Feature The job market is growing, but Gen Z grads are struggling to find work
-
'Forever': Judy Blume's controversial novel gets a modern adaptation
The Explainer The Netflix series gives the 1975 novel all the trappings of modern teen life
-
Why does the GOP want to ban state-level AI regulation for a decade?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION House Republicans are pushing to block states from making their own AI laws for the next ten years, even as expert warn the results could be disastrous.
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suit
Speed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments law
Speed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage
Speed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law