This week Colorado Supreme Court heard the case of whether an employee can be fired for failing a drug test for a substance that is legal under state law, medical marijuana.
I wrote about the Brandon Coats case previously.
Coats' attorney argued that if an employee can be fired under an employer's "zero tolerance" drug testing policy, then the medical marijuana system is only "for the unemployed.
The state attorney general, arguing for employer rights, claimed that "limiting the off-duty activities statute only to Colorado law could bring 'absurdities' such as someone convicted of a crime like federal tax fraud not being able to be fired."
Which is a ridiculous comparison, since federal tax fraud is not explicitly legal under Colorado law. Medical marijuana is.
The case will likely hinge on the narrow point of the court's interpretation of the Colorado Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute, which protects "lawful, off-duty activities from being cause for termination."
Does "lawful" mean "lawful under Colorado law" or "lawful" more broadly that would include Federal law?
This is an important case, though it certainly won't be the end of the fight for the civil rights of legal marijuana users.
Possible remedies include: Colorado amending the Lawful Off-Duty Activities statute to be more explicit, or even better, the Federal government removing cannabis from the list of Schedule I Controlled substances, so it's use isn't always explicitly illegal under federal law.
The court's decision may take at least a few weeks to be published.