28Apr/113

Walmart continues to suck.

This is another reason why I shop at Target. -UA

ACLU seeks to reinstate lawsuit over Walmart worker's firing for using marijuana

BY TRESA BALDAS ANDBILL LAITNER 4/28 freep.com

He says he was a cancer patient who needed pot for pain. His employer says he posed a safety risk.

The firing of a Battle Creek man from Walmart for smoking pot is putting Michigan's 3-year-old medical marijuana law to the test.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate a lawsuit that claims Walmart wrongfully fired Joseph Casias, 30.

Casias, fired in 2009 after testing positive for marijuana, was an inventory control manager and has had a brain tumor and sinus cancer for more than 10 years.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in February, holding that Michigan's law does not mandate employers to accommodate medical marijuana users.

The ACLU disagrees, arguing that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act explicitly protects employees from being disciplined at work for legally using medical marijuana.

If Walmart is going to have a store in Battle Creek and employ workers, they have to follow Michigan law, said Dan Korobkin, staff attorney at the ACLU Detroit office.

The company defended its decision to fire Casias, its 2008 associate of the year.

"This is just an unfortunate situation all around, and we're sympathetic to Mr. Casias' condition," said Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter, noting that the decision to fire Casia was a safety issue.

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Tagged as: aclu marijuana, Joseph Casias, walmart, walmart sucks 3 Comments

22Feb/1112

Important Federal Medical Marijuana Ruling

Thought from the editor: In this country, if you want to work, potential employees have to pass a drug test, but if you want to collect welfare, unemployment or housing assistance, just sign on up....WTF?!.....

Wal-Mart employee fired for medical pot loses case

Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:51pm EST

Reporting by Clare Baldwin, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Ron Popeski)

"State pot law does not regulate private employers" -judge

* Wal-Mart justified in firing employee for positive test

(Reuters) - A federal judge in Michigan on Friday upheld Wal-Mart Stores Inc's dismissal of an employee for testing positive for marijuana, even though he was using the drug under the state's medical marijuana law.

Judge Robert Jonker wrote that while the state law was meant to provide some limited protection for medical marijuana users from state arrest and prosecution, it does not regulate private employers.

Former Wal-Mart employee Joseph Casias said he was using the marijuana to treat pain from an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer, and was doing so legally, with a medical marijuana registry card.

After twisting his knee at work, Casias submitted to a drug test, administered under a Wal-Mart policy requiring tests for all employees injured on the job. When he tested positive, he was fired.

Casias worked at a Wal-Mart store in Battle Creek, Michigan from 2004 to 2009. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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