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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
Discuss workforce management, performance management, retention, communication, motivation, contributing to business results and other topics.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday told a federal judge that its case against Wal-Mart for wrongfully firing an employee for lawfully using medical marijuana in accordance with state law to
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 6:19 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Whether you agree with marijuana being used as a medical treatment or not, right now it is still an illegal one from a federal point of view. (And no I am not supporting WalMart per se...usually I am the first to argue against them for many many personal reasons)
There are a lot of laws I would like to change, but must live under. I think there is a better way to solve the issue to get the law changed than to just say a specific person/physician is above that law. I would also question if another drug such as oxy had been found in the drug test, even with a prescription, if WalMart would have still terminated him for having it in his system knowing the side effects, etc. Just another thought. It might not be so much about the specific drug, although I am sure this individual wants to make it about marijuana....because it gets other people on board. There is already a large interest group to help him fight, kwim? Unfortunately many drugs impair people's ability to work and be safe. An employer has to keep that in mind while also respecting the employee's rights under ADA, FMLA and other laws. It's a delicate balance at times. And often the employer has to make a hard decision. |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 6:23 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I also have to wonder how he is "not under the influence" while at the same time he "experiences immediate and profound results: his pain decreased dramatically..."
What happens when the marijuana wears off? I suspect his pain increases back to 'normal'. Most medications I have seen only help while it is in your system.... |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 7:07 AM EST
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
Since we are weighing in about morality, my biggest frustration with those who use medical benefits to legitimize using this drug is that they are using someone's pain and suffering to further their recreational agenda - makes me nuts. I've gotten into screaming matches with these fools.
If they really cared about helping grandma through chemo, they wouldn't try to steal her stash. Having said that, some would argue that marijuana is less debilitating than oxy. |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 7:26 AM EST
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
Morals is a good question
According to my morals...yes they should lose. Society establishes morals to protect it. When one group asks society to compromise those moral values what they are really saying is "your morals are no good...so change them." When it comes to my morals I don't compromise them. |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 7:53 AM EST
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I totally agree with deltac. Using the pain and suffering of others to further legal use of an illegal substance is ridiculous.
As an example, here in Colorado we have a medical marijuana law. Just down the street and across from the Univ of Colorado is an establishment called "Doctor Reefer's Dispensary". It's not located anywhere near any medical offices, pharmacies, etc - it's in a traditional UofCO party neighborhood. I have a hard time connecting this with relieving "pain and suffering", and no difficulty associating this with doper recreation. Does medical marijuana help? Probably - and I'm thinking that when I was going through chemo something to boost my appetite and reduce the pain would've been terrific. I've asked my oncologist if he'd have prescribed it, and his response was that Marinol works just as well. Prescribe it responsibly, use it responsibly, but don't blow sunshine up my butt claiming that this is all about medicine. It's way more about stoners having legal access to their drug of choice than anything else. |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 8:52 AM EST
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Posts: 210
First: 1/4/2003 Last: 7/11/2011 |
My morals say we should have more compassion for those going through almost unbearable treatment for a horrible disease. I believe it is ultimately GOOD BUSINESS to be compassionate with employees while maintaining reasonable judgment and following the law.
Yes, it is a sad shame that recreational users hijack the medical marijuana debate with abuse. But IF this employee was terminated for marijuana in his system (which given brain cancer was probably in pill form - marinol) that is so wrong in my opinion. Of course, a business must take care of itself. If this employee was impaired by his medical condition/treatment, then reasonable accomodation should be sought and then if not available, apply leave or termination policies. Making this about the medication they were taking is not fair, not exercising good judgment, and is ultimately bad business. But hey, it's WalMart, don't we expect their employees not to be treated fairly at this point? |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 10:22 AM EST
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Compassion is certainly legal and proper. Compassion and allowing use of illegal drugs is not legal and proper.
And I don't see Walmart having any problem recruiting employees, which would be expected if employees weren't being treated "fairly". |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/16/2010 11:03 AM EST
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
Walmart is everyone's target because they are one of the largest employers in the world. Call it the "I want to make money by suing someone so I'll go after the company with the best means to pay" syndrome.
As a corporation Walmart is doing it right. As Nork says, they have never had a problem recruiting people. That says a lot. |
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Lawsuit Charging Wal-Mart With Wrongfully Firing Medical Marijuana Patient
posted at 11/17/2010 5:44 AM EST
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
I understand the whole deep pockets thing, but I don't think that's a fair characterization in this case.
I think he had a reason to believe that he wasn't breaking the law and that his subsequent termination was unjust. Did Walmart do enough to make their policy clear? I guess that remains to be seen. Nothing against my legal colleagues, but I hope he isn't being exploited by greedy stakeholders or because of someone's political agenda. |
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