MEDICAL MARIJUANA FIRING DEBATED

Companies Evaluate Their Drug Policies

Local companies are scrambling to decide what they would do if an
employee was using marijuana for medical reasons.

Interest in company drug policies spiked after a Battle Creek area
man said recently he was fired from Walmart on B Drive North after a
routine drug test confirmed he had used marijuana.

Joseph Casias, 29, has a state license to grow, carry and use
marijuana because he has sinus cancer and a brain tumor. The store
fired him in November anyway. Casias did not return requests for comment.

Michigan voters in 2008 made marijuana use legal for patients with
certain medical illnesses, including cancer, Hepatitis C, Alzheimer's
disease, HIV and AIDS. The law does not protect people who use it at
work, explained Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan
Medical Marijuana Association.

"The law is very clear that employees cannot be intoxicated or use
marijuana on the job, and nobody is saying anyone has the right to
use marijuana on the job," he said. "At the same time, we would hope
employers would have a sense of decency."

Francisco said Casias showed no signs of abusing the drug and he
should have been treated like any other employee using a prescription
painkiller or antidepressant to treat an illness.

"The man has terminal cancer," he said. "Why would Walmart want to
add to that aggravation or stress?"

Walmart no longer is contesting Casias' claim for unemployment, a
company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

"This is just an unfortunate situation all around. We are sympathetic
to Mr. Casias' condition but, like other companies, we have to
consider the overall safety of our customers and associates,
including Mr. Casias, when making a difficult decision like this,"
the company said in a written statement.

Area managers are anxious about confronting a similar medical
marijuana scenario, said Dan Fry, marketing manager with HelpNet, an
employer relations assistance program supported by Battle Creek
Health System. Most companies and employees will need to examine
their drug policies for guidance or face legal consequences.

"A drug is a drug is a drug," he said. "It's probably no different
than employees who are using prescription drugs. ... Is this person
fit to do his or her job, yes or no?"

Earlier this month, I.I. Stanley Co. Inc. instituted a new method in
which it tested all employees and associates for drugs on the same
day without warning. The more rigorous policy included, for the
first time, its Japanese associates, said Greg Bond, section manager
for human resources.

I.I. Stanley produces automotive lighting and electronics in the Fort
Custer Industrial Park at 1500 Hill Brady Road. Its workers do not
have a union to negotiate the company's drug testing policies.

Bond said previous attempts to randomly screen for drug use seemed to
create strife among employees.

"Some people got picked multiple times," he said, while others
suspected of using drugs never seemed to get picked.

I.I. Stanley gave employees the option of quitting rather than take
the test, Bond said. Nine of its 570 workers made that choice.

"We wanted to make this easy for people," he said. "If you think you
have a problem and you don't want it on your record; if we fire you
for drug use that can follow you for the rest of your life."

Of the employees who submitted to the urine screening, 17 showed
illicit drugs in their systems, he said.

All of the 17 workers had used marijuana. None had medical marijuana
registry cards and all were fired, though they have the option to
appeal, he said. Employees who had other narcotics in their urine
were asked to show a prescription to justify its use.

Bond said I.I. Stanley is committed to being a drug-free workplace to
ensure the safety of its workers and quality of its products.

"Technically, our drug policy is zero tolerance," he said. "If you
use drugs you can't work here."

But he was unsure how I.I Stanley would have dealt with an employee
with marijuana in his system had he been licensed to use it.

"I think it will come down to: you can't be under the influence at
work," he said. "The problem that you run into is, I don't believe
there is a test out there that says you are under the influence now."

Union employees at Battle Creek's Kellogg Co. do not currently submit
to routine drug testing, except when they are hired into the company
or after returning from substance abuse treatment, said Rocky Marsh,
president and business agent of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco
Workers and Grain Millers Union, Local 3-G.

Marsh said the union will renegotiate the terms of its supplemental
agreement for Battle Creek cereal workers before the current one
expires April 3, 2011. He hopes to add language to the agreement that
addresses medical use of marijuana.

"We're going to recommend that same procedure that's in place now,
but with new people coming in, because of the law, we would like
Kellogg to consider that particular qualifying patient as being still
eligible to work," he said.