USE MEDICAL MARIJUANA, LOSE YOUR JOB

State Supreme Court Says Employers Can Fire Workers for Pot Use, Even
If It's Legal

SAN FRANCISCO -- California employers may fire workers for using
medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation when not working
even if the drug does not impair their performance, the state Supreme
Court ruled Thursday.

The court by a vote of 5-2 upheld a Sacramento telecommunications
company's firing of a man who flunked a company-ordered drug test.
Gary Ross held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to legally
use marijuana to treat a back injury sustained while serving in the Air Force.

Ross, of Carmichael, was hired by RagingWire Enterprise Solutions
Inc. in 2001 as an administrator. Before taking the drug test, Ross
provided a copy of his physician's recommendation for marijuana. The
company fired him a week after he started the job because of his marijuana use.

Ross sued the company on the grounds it failed to accommodate his
disability as required under state anti-discrimination law. He also
alleged RagingWire violated his rights as a matter of public policy.
A trial court and an appeals court ruled for the employer.

RagingWire argued it rightfully fired Ross because all marijuana use
is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize medical
marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.

"No state law could completely legalize marijuana for medical
purposes because the drug remains illegal under federal law," Justice
Kathryn Werdegar wrote for the majority.

The court also said the so-called Compassionate Use Act passed by
California voters in 1996 had nothing to do with employment laws.

"Under California law, an employer may require pre-employment drug
tests and take illegal drug use into consideration in making
employment decisions," Werdegar wrote.

But Justice Joyce Kennard called the decision "conspicuously lacking
in compassion."

"The majority's holding disrespects the will of California's voters
who, when they enacted the Compassionate Use Act, surely never
intended that persons who availed themselves of its provisions would
thereby disqualify themselves from employment," wrote Kennard, who
was joined in her dissent by Justice Carlos Moreno.

A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that state medicinal
marijuana laws don't protect users from prosecution. The Drug
Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been actively
shutting major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state
over the last two years and charging their operators with felony
distributions charges.

RagingWire said it fired Ross because, among other reasons, it feared
it could be the target of a federal raid.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the Western
Electrical Contractors Association Inc. had joined Ragingwire's case,
arguing companies could lose federal contracts and grants if they
allowed employees to smoke pot.

The conservative nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation said in a
friend-of-the-court filing that employers also could be liable for
damage done by workers high on marijuana.

"This decision promotes employer efforts to make safe, drug-free
workplaces," said foundation lawyer Deborah LaFetra.

Ross had argued that medical marijuana users should receive the same
workplace protection from discipline that employees with valid
painkiller prescriptions do.

Stewart Katz, Ross' lawyer, said he was disappointed but not
surprised by the ruling "because of what the political realities are."

The nonprofit marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access,
which represents Ross, estimated 300,000 Americans use medical
marijuana. The Oakland-based group said it has received hundreds of
employee discrimination complaints in California since it began
tracking the issue in 2005.

Safe Access attorney Joe Elford said the group will focus on getting
the Legislature to pass a law protecting medical marijuana users in
the work place.