Dankr.ca – Your Toronto Connection
Written by Mike Adams for Merry Jane.
Although employers are typically given the right to fire employees for their marijuana consumption, even when it is done after hours, Connecticut’s Supreme Court decided last week that a state worker was treated unfairly when he was fired for smoking pot on the job, and that he should be given the opportunity to return to his post.
In a unanimous vote of 7-to-0 the state’s highest court determined that Gregory Linhoof, who was terminated several years ago by the University of Connecticut when police caught him smoking marijuana in a vehicle owned by the state, should not have been fired for his actions, especially considering that the veteran worker had no other disciplinary blemishes on his record during the 15 years he was employed with the school.
Instead, the court said that Linhoff should receive a six-month suspension — without pay — and return to work under the condition of being subjected to random drug screens for the next year.
Throughout the case, state officials determined that giving Linhoof his walking papers was the only possible course of action that could be taken against his pot smoking offense. However, an arbitrator stepped in and determined that a six month unpaid suspension and regular drug testing for a year would be a sufficient enough punishment for an otherwise model employee. But the arbitrator’s opinion was eventually shot down in a Superior Court because a judge said the offense went against the grain of the state’s public policy.
