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.

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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.