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.
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Because 23 states now allow medical marijuana, the ruling will likely have implications for the way cases like this are handled in the future.
