The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday (June 16th, 2015) ruled in a unanimous decision that employers can fire workers who use marijuana outside of the workplace. The opinion in Coats v. Dish Network is here.
"The supreme court holds that under the plain language of section 24-34-402.5, 13 C.R.S. (2014), Colorado’s “lawful activities statute,” the term “lawful” refers only to those activities that are lawful under both state and federal law. Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law 16 but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute. We therefore affirm the court of appeals’ opinion."
Coats v. Dish Network - Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic and medical marijuana user who was fired from his job as a telephone operator at Dish Network for using marijuana in his off-job hours.
The issue: Can you be fired for off-the-job marijuana use that doesn't impact your job performance? The Colorado Court of Appeals said yes, ruling because marijuana use is still illegal under federal law, it isn't a lawful activity under state law protecting employees from being fired for engaging in lawful activities in their off-hours. Now the Supreme Court has affirmed. There were no dissents (one Justice didn't participate.)
Defining point - Marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a).
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/us/companies-can-fire-workers-for-marijuana-use-colorado-court-rules.html?_r=1
TSCC-AD/God's Own Opinion
Obviously the "bright line" guidance here is that marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a). In the end game, the federal government in most ways has the last say. I doubt that SCOTUS will grant cert. The fact that it is a federal crime was the compelling and central point of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision and unanimous opinion. This central fact is going to continue to be persuasive in any litigation. In addition, this Colorado decision is going to be a clear guideline going forth for any other related litigation primarily due to the fact that Colorado is one of the most marijuana friendly states.
IOHU- Clearly what is needed is a federal law legalizing the use of marijuana -- not just providing protection from prosecution in states where it is legal. Ideally, marijuana should be removed entirely from the schedule of controlled substances. Until this is accomplished pro-marijuana litigation will continue to be stopped at this barricade of modern prohibition because of the financial impact to individual state judicial system's derivative income. Also because unlike alcohol which can be easily taxed and monitored because of the difficulty to manufacture it in large quantities, marijuana can be grown anywhere easily and is very difficult logistically to control for tax purposes.
We continue to support full legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. While we understand that the government would ideally like to control and tax it, (which they took a stab at back in the 1980's with the completely nonsensical notion to tax an illegal substance by issuing and selling tax stamps for marijuana - which now are collector's items - the only real thing that it did was to create a crime for tax evasion which could be tacked on to your possession charge) and should it take that to accomplish its decriminalization we don't completely oppose the concept. However due to the complexities involved involved in that concept, we don't believe it will ever occur. Therefore, some more time is needed for those of the acceptance generation to age to that of authority prior to the federal law being changed.
Gene & George
"The supreme court holds that under the plain language of section 24-34-402.5, 13 C.R.S. (2014), Colorado’s “lawful activities statute,” the term “lawful” refers only to those activities that are lawful under both state and federal law. Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law 16 but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute. We therefore affirm the court of appeals’ opinion."
Coats v. Dish Network - Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic and medical marijuana user who was fired from his job as a telephone operator at Dish Network for using marijuana in his off-job hours.
The issue: Can you be fired for off-the-job marijuana use that doesn't impact your job performance? The Colorado Court of Appeals said yes, ruling because marijuana use is still illegal under federal law, it isn't a lawful activity under state law protecting employees from being fired for engaging in lawful activities in their off-hours. Now the Supreme Court has affirmed. There were no dissents (one Justice didn't participate.)
Defining point - Marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a).
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/us/companies-can-fire-workers-for-marijuana-use-colorado-court-rules.html?_r=1
TSCC-AD/God's Own Opinion
Obviously the "bright line" guidance here is that marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a). In the end game, the federal government in most ways has the last say. I doubt that SCOTUS will grant cert. The fact that it is a federal crime was the compelling and central point of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision and unanimous opinion. This central fact is going to continue to be persuasive in any litigation. In addition, this Colorado decision is going to be a clear guideline going forth for any other related litigation primarily due to the fact that Colorado is one of the most marijuana friendly states.
IOHU- Clearly what is needed is a federal law legalizing the use of marijuana -- not just providing protection from prosecution in states where it is legal. Ideally, marijuana should be removed entirely from the schedule of controlled substances. Until this is accomplished pro-marijuana litigation will continue to be stopped at this barricade of modern prohibition because of the financial impact to individual state judicial system's derivative income. Also because unlike alcohol which can be easily taxed and monitored because of the difficulty to manufacture it in large quantities, marijuana can be grown anywhere easily and is very difficult logistically to control for tax purposes.
We continue to support full legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. While we understand that the government would ideally like to control and tax it, (which they took a stab at back in the 1980's with the completely nonsensical notion to tax an illegal substance by issuing and selling tax stamps for marijuana - which now are collector's items - the only real thing that it did was to create a crime for tax evasion which could be tacked on to your possession charge) and should it take that to accomplish its decriminalization we don't completely oppose the concept. However due to the complexities involved involved in that concept, we don't believe it will ever occur. Therefore, some more time is needed for those of the acceptance generation to age to that of authority prior to the federal law being changed.
Gene & George