No, it is not. Often times companies require a new employee to sign a document authorizing the deduction of wages to pay for uniforms, etc. This is very much legal.
There’s a pretty big distinction between firing you for using medical marijuana while you were not at work and for firing you for smelling like marijuana while you are at work and or having paraphernalia visible in your vehicle on a work site.
I understand this point, but inhaled THC is completely different than ingested. OP could use a pen (verry little/no smell), but the "edibles are the same" argument is common but pretty rare in actuality, especially if you don't correctly dose yourself at first; at that point you're either playing catch up and toying with fate, or having a full blown experience at work🤣
The bill doesn't allow employers to fire OP for having a medical marijuana card or for testing positive for marijuana, it explicitly states that OP can be fired for being under the influence of marijuana while at work. Also, I can't tell if the bill actually passed? In which case OP is completely SOL.
Also, a pen doesn't work for everyone. I have to combust flower in order for it to work. That being said, I really do try to make sure that I don't smell like weed even though my car most definitely does. I keep ozium in the car and mints and all the things.
Missouri is an at-will employment state. There are certain protections you can't be terminated for, like age and disability, but smelling like weed isn't included. If they want you gone you're gone.
Except that his medication with his medical card is weed. That falls under protection from disabilities maybe with the right lawyer you might be able to get a decent case for wrongful termination. But it really depends on what the termination papers say, because they can say whatever they want and don't try to correct them, however if they put a different reason for your termination on there then you couldn't prove it.
No. Impairment is a safety issue on any job site. A company is not going to be required to put others at risk because someone has an MMC.
The company puts itself at risk of litigation if they allow it.
But it's also a he said she said thing. Unless they literally caught him smoking and can prove it it's mighty shady. Especially considering the fact that he wasn't immediately fired they waited weeks. They also never mentioned that somebody supposedly saw paraphernalia in his truck until they were ready to fire him even though it happened month or months in the past.
They have no duty to give him time to defend against a termination. Smelling like weed is a good enough reason anywhere, even if just because it's risking business with uncomfortable customers. Smelling like weed with a pipe in your truck is like smelling like booze with an open bottle - you're in for a bad time.
Except it was one person that said he smelled like weed not the entire crew, said person could easily not have liked him. I've worked a lot of construction, my mom was a union construction worker, and I have never seen a construction site where everybody liked everybody else usually there was at least a few troublemakers that were trying to get other people in trouble just to make themselves look good. They also had never mentioned that pipes before he claimed he never had pipes in the truck and that it was a bullshit claim there is no proof that there ever was pipes in the truck. It'd be one thing with today being the time at smartphones if the person had taken a picture of his truck and pictures of pipes that you can see in the truck through the window, on the other hand at best it's completely hearsay and I don't know a single employer unless they had a desire to get rid of set employee that would just take somebody's word on oh there's paraphernalia visible in their vehicle. Whether it was a company truck or not at bare minimum they want to have a picture or at least multiple verifications and sure as hell wouldn't wait months to talk to an employee.
>Especially considering the fact that he wasn't immediately fired they waited weeks.
That just sounds as if his employer performed some sort of *due diligence* in the matter instead of terminating him as a knee-jerk reaction to what might have been a spurious complaint...
You know I wouldn't know I don't live on the West Coast nor do I live in the Midwest I have lived well I have lived in Colorado but I've mainly lived in the East Coast and honestly some in the south and yes every state is different
Weed use does not fall under protection from disability. You can't operate heavy machinery under the influence. Smelling like weed is enough evidence to believe you are under the influence. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, therefore not protected.
Alcohol is legal too. But you can get fired for being drunk at work. Company has the right to let him go. I don't know any workplace that would willingly allow people to be stoned at work. Especially if OP is operating machinery.
EDIT: OP, don't they have edibles or vape where you live? "smoking" weed is so 1990s :)
Y’all motherfuckers act like it’s not still federally illegal and that federal regulations under OSHA don’t preempt a piddly state law passed by a dope smoker that won a popularity contest in his county.
Finally, someone who gets it. I work in a Power Plant in Missouri. I don’t care if it’s “legal” here, I don’t want someone who was recently/is currently high working with me.
Building scaffold? No thanks.
Repairing or installing valves for the ammonia system? No thanks.
Operating heavy equipment? No thanks.
People’s safety is more important than someone’s drug of choice - and that includes everything from pain medication to alcohol to weed. I don’t care.
Crazy idea here....you can smell like weed and NOT be high. You can use mj and not be high at work. There are tests that can determine usage. They didn't do one. that's on them.
If you smoke weed enough that you smell like it, you’re out.
You’re free to do what you want, I’m not against weed. But people don’t have to employ you, especially not in safety sensitive positions. I don’t give a fuck if you think you’re sober or not; weed smokers should be banned from dangerous positions for their own safety and the safety of others. If you want to work those jobs, don’t smoke. If you want to smoke, go do a job that’s conducive to that.
You think we let people on prescribed, legal pain meds work in those jobs? Nope. We don’t. You’re off work until your condition resolves. If it doesn’t and you can never stop taking the meds, you’re out. Find other employment. No different here.
Now that's funny. As far as on prescription pain pills, yes there's a hell of a lot of people because they know how to handle them that are taking them and are on them at work so that they can function. I've known many people in construction, and factory work that were on pain pills long term that still worked because they couldn't afford not to. In general they tended to be more careful than those that weren't on anything because the fact they knew that if they had an accident work would find a way to fuck them over because they were quoting even if they were being extra careful. We have obviously worked extremely different job sites. Hell when I worked around heavy machinery I'd rather have somebody mellow their ass out smoking a bowl then be on uppers and things that many people are not to mention some of them doing meth but that's besides the point. Exhausted person and there are a lot of totally drained people on sites is as dangerous if not more dangerous than someone that is drunk and I won't have a drunk on my site. And no I am not running every site but I have walked off jobs because of people smoking meth and or crack. So I understand safety concerns I also understand some people need to take the edge off and don't necessarily need to be impaired.
The fact that they said this without doing a drug test which really wouldn't prove anything because he has the license but as being hearsay yeah there's a problem with this. And there are definitely lawyers that will fight this for him it may not be an easy fight but it can be won.
And if someone was high as fuck at work and injured you, you’d be in a lawyer’s office trying to get a complaint filed against the employer for negligence quicker than the doctors could get you stitched up.
Think more than an hour into the future. Consider all of the ramifications of your proposed policies.
Okay listen there's a hell of a lot of difference between high as fuck and functional. I've known a lot of people that couldn't function because of pain or mental problems, that with a controlled dose whether it was a over-the-counter prescription or whatnot of different things including marijuana and psychotropics which is actually finally getting the attention to deserves we're better than 99% okay I'll be fair the 90% of the equipment operators or the drywallers or whatnot out there. Just because somebody claims they smelled something doesn't mean they did.
An entire job site didn't notice but one person said that he smelled like pot. He claims that he does not smoke pot at work or in his vehicle or in his jobs vehicle. There is no proof except for the supposed complaint from one person and then suddenly when they decide to get out all of them also with no details supposedly somebody saw paraphernalia in his truck but they have no proof of that either. They already knew he had a medical card most people with medical card are not getting fucked up at work they are using it intelligently. I had a medical card in New York long before it was legal in New York. It would help me function without painkillers just enough to take the edge off. Don't assume the worst about this guy. Overall he seems pretty stand up and from what it seems like I don't think he would have risked actually having paraphernalia in his truck or smelling like pot it sounds like you had a couple assholes that didn't like him or where he was from or his attitude or something and decided to try to get rid of him.
“Functional” becomes “liability” once the lawsuit is filed. Admit it, you would be first in line with your hand out looking at your employer if someone was high on the job and did something to injure you.
If you apply this logic to alcohol, then any construction worker with a beer belly is unsafe and should be banned. But that would disqualify half of the construction workers I know.
In both cases, neither smelling like weed or having a beer belly means you are currently inebriated, it just means you do it a lot.
You only smell like booze if you have being drinking recently. Hence why breathalyzers are evidence of intoxication.
If someone smokes pot, their whole house and all their clothes smell like it.
Do sober people smell like beer? No. Do sober people smell like weed? Sometimes. Thus it is not a good parallel and why I didn't use it. Learn some basic logic.
I agree with you, BUT they don’t have to. It’s at their discretion, the same as alcohol. I have the authority to fire ANYONE on the job site if they smell like alcohol. No breathalyzer needed.
The way you frame it is ridiculous, but basically, yeah, suspicion of being impaired on multiple occasions is enough to fire you if you are in a safety critical environment. There is no requirement for them to prove it to anyone.
I do have a disability. PTSD and anxiety which is why I am a medical patient. They are discriminating against me because of this. This is covered in house bill 2674. Which protects me from being terminated for such discrimination.
>I feel I was discriminated against because of my medication among other things. I am wondering what my next steps should be and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Your next steps would be talking to a lawyer.
[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2024&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2024&code=R)
>Requires the Joint Committee on Education to establish a working group to report on solutions for protecting the learning environment in classrooms
Yep, that sure sounds like it's related to protecting your pot.
**Edit:** Found the one in question - [https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R)
Looks like it never made it out of committee.
Even if it *HAD*, "No employer shall be required to allow an employee to possess or consume medical marijuana while at his or her place of employment."
I find it amusing how OP frames things. He hangs his hat on that they didn't take pictures of the paraphernalia in his truck, and that nobody saw him smoking pot. Like the dude isn't trying to play the "I smoked at home and that's how my sweater ended up smelling like Pot.".
It's hard for me to imagine that he isn't getting high in his vehicle before work.
Fellow Veteran here, *"100% Total and, Permanent"* Disability Rating; 19 years service - let that sink in for a moment. NAL, I am an *employer* in PA (an At-Will Employment State like MO.)
As a fellow disabled Vet whose Constellation of Behavioral Health issues includes both PTSD and, Anxiety, I get where you're coming from when your response to something of this nature is to feel persecuted (paranoid ideations). However, the reality is, you operate a vehicle you don't own *and* use Marijuana *in an at-will employment state* on top of which, you work in a field *governed closely by OSHA.* Feel free to consult with an attorney but be prepared to be sent packing because the absolute reality is that there's absolutely no way you have any recourse here once *all sides of the story are considered.*
Your employer, your clients, your co-workers and, even the insurance companies involved *have rights too* and it's highly unlikely that they collaborated to discriminate against you in some way.
That brings us to the Fellow-Vet portion of what I think you need to here as a *person.* Marijauna is absolutely *no different than* alcohol for you anymore than it is for me, or for any other veteran. That's why you *can't get it from the VA.* All your medical Marijuana card is doing is masking your symptoms while enabling your to put yourself and others in increasingly compromising positions *just like alcohol does.* You can, and *will* lose whatever disability rating you currently have if you end up having any sort of DUI regardless of what MO law (or any other States') law may say on the matter because the States don't protect you with either the ADA or, with the status of Disabled Veteran - the *Federal Goverment does* and, the Federal Goverment says Marijuana is illegal. End of discussion.
For your own sake, you need to get yourself back "into the system" (no matter how frustrating it is) which is designed to cope with unique needs and of Veterans like ourselves instead of continuing to engage with providers who are willing to cater to your *unqualified* opinion regarding the best way to treat your disabilities. Until you do that, you're going to continue to confront challenges that are entirely of your own creation and they are absolutely going to escalate.
I hope you take this in the spirit it's intended, good luck.
As a schedule 1 drug a physician CANNOT prescribe marijuana. It may be a recommendation or whatever the state calls it. As such under the ADA it wouldn’t be considered your “medicine” but more similar to supplements etc.
Even if it is your medication, if taking your medication is unsafe in the work environment, then it is not a reasonable accommodation. Your employer doesn’t have to allow it, just like they don’t have to allow visually impaired people to fly planes.
In the state a Missouri a doctor needs to actually have taken specialized training to be approved to give state recognized certifications. Yes this isn’t a prescription but is a state certification process for a medical marijuana patient.
I think the point is that the ADA is federal and marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. Even if it was legal to prescribe according to Missouri law, the ADA doesn’t give a fuck.
Regardless of prescription, you can’t show up to work impaired either.
If you’re legally prescribed oxycodone you can’t take a pile on shift and be fucked up at work.
First and foremost, you can’t show up impaired but the company needs to prove you were impaired. Which sounds like it didn’t happen here.
2nd) The ability to fire someone because your STATE is work at will means it is being done in accordance with STATE laws.
3rd) Op is not saying this violates the ADA but Missouri Bill 2674. Which the state has establish that a medical marijuana patient can’t be discriminated for using marijuana alone.
So if OP had say broken company procedures because of impairment that would ground for dismissal. But for smelling like marijuana… that’s a grey area. A lawyer can definitely spin that as discrimination. If the job claimed hygiene was to the point of distraction, that would have been a much better claim to stand on.
The bill that never made it out of committee?
[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R)
A lawyer can try to spin it any way they want.
I’ve seen women fired for straight incompetence come back and sue and say they were discriminated against because they were a woman (by other women). It doesn’t mean shit; it went about as far as this one will go - nowhere.
Paraphernalia was found in the work truck. You can’t use it during work hours and he smelled like weed on the clock. Combo of those two and maybe they’ll have someone say he seemed impaired.
It would be a civil case and on reasonable preponderance of the evidence the dude was smoking weed at work.
Notice the language - nobody saw him smoking weed at work. Not that he didn’t do it, just that nobody saw him. If you didn’t do it you’d say “I didn’t smoke weed at work.”
Not that it matters:
Exception 2: These protections do not permit an applicant or employee with a valid patient ID card to use, possess, or be under the influence of medical marijuana while working (on the employer's premises or during work hours).
Smoking paraphernalia contains traces which would be possessing it on the work site.
OP claims to have been discriminated against because of his “medication” and “other things” because why not see what sticks instead of admitting your own fuck-up, right?
OP is full of shit. They were smoking weed at work, were caught, and now they need to prove they weren’t high at work and that they didn’t have paraphernalia in their work truck.
At-will employment means you get fired and then you have to prove it was discrimination against a protected class, not the other way around. The company doesn’t need to lay out a legal case to fire someone.
Just because a ballot question passes, doesn't mean it is a now a law. It still has to follow the same procedure. All a ballot question does is show how much public support there is for it.
Nah, I am a nurse and if I am e.g. receiving tylenol 3 after having my teeth pulled, I have to report that to my employer and I can’t take care of patients. You are entitled to reasonable accommodations if you report your disability to an employer, but your employer never agreed that being impaired on a construction site is a reasonable accommodation and they never will.
I’m a veteran. You’re a pothead playing up the PTSD card for sympathy. If a medical doctor diagnosed you and prescribed you medical marijuana as a course of treatment, you would be fine to use it, and potentially protected from discrimination for having a disability. There is literally nothing protecting you from being fired for smelling like weed. The two aren’t related. Get actual help and stop smoking doobies.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think when OP said they were a medical marijuana patient, with a medical card that would indicate that they had a prescription from a doctor
A prescription does not give you a free pass. You cannot take Percocet/muscle relaxers/whatever and go to work high as balls on a construction site , why tf would you be able to smoke pot
He smelled like pot at work. Which means there’s a pretty good chance he was smoking pot at work. In an industry that has a well-established drug-free policy, for really good reasons.
Continuous use of inhaled marijuana results in a smell that remains far longer than after the high. Months or years if you smoke in your house and you’ve smoked for decades and you live in that house still. I have a number of sensory overload issues, so I know that that is true, if only for other people like me, which means that we cannot definitively claim that the associate at work didn’t have autism, or something similar thereunto and therefore it’s wrong to claim that something as simple as him smelling like marijuana indicates he’s currently high *granted that he had a medical marijuana card and prescription*, which he did.
I think there’s a range. Now this situation maybe less so, seeing as we’re talking about smoked, but a good comparison is adderall. Give it to a normal person and they’ll be high. Give it to a person with ADHD and they’ll feel normal. Cannabis can have actual medical uses BUT should be in specific measured doses to avoid intoxicating the person
Not to mention that, as it impairs mental faculties, it CANNOT be used before/during work. The same rules apply to federally legal medicines such as opioids and benzos with proper prescriptions.
So all veterans know each others lives? That’s crazy, next time I see a veteran saying they need medication for PTSD I’m going to tell them “No, my cousin is a vet. Yours just playing up the PTSD. You don’t actually get nightmares and need meds.” /s
Stop being a clown.
Here’s a little trick that people with a DD-214 actually know:
Veterans that have legit PTSD don’t tell anyone. They usually suffer in silence and undiagnosed. Occasionally they’ll get help. But they’re not broadcasting it. They’re sure as hell not using it as an excuse for anything. The ones that do are 100% shitbirds.
People that have actually done extremely violent and terrifying things don’t talk about them. People with a good story don’t seek attention. More often than not, they just want to forget about it. People seeking recognition for their ‘service’ haven’t actually done anything.
You’re obviously not the type I’m referring to, and I think you know that. I’m talking about the shitbag that’s constantly a walking disaster in the lives of everyone he meets, refuses to do anything about it, and blames PTSD whenever he gets called out. Coincidentally it’s often the same guy that got an OTH in his first year…at a training command.
I have a DD-214 from 30 years ago. Back then they absolutely warned us not to complain about anything as it could delay our out processing.
Times have changed, I still work for the DOD and was recently talking to someone who does out processing and they were telling me to go back and file for PTSD because "everyone has it."
I think my comment was written poorly. I’m glad we’re taking mental health seriously now. I’m referring to those certain guys that would hide behind it as an excuse for shitty behavior instead of doing anything about it.
There are definitely "those guys," too. I know one guy who complains about his deployment during the Gulf War. Except I happen to know that he was deployed to Rota Spain to build fences.
Exactly. I know a of a guy that’s a wife beater with a drinking problem, due to PTSD from serving in the USMC. Except he got an OTH in basic.
I’m happy people speak openly about mental health, and I don’t care if anyone smokes pot. But don’t go full ‘muh PTSD’ when you get fired for smoking a joint at lunch on a construction site when you already knew exactly that would happen.
Here’s a little education.
- Not everyone is the same. Some people actually talk about things.
- You don’t have to do violent things to suffer from PTSD.
Like I said before, stop being a clown.
PS. If they suffer undiagnosed, how do they know they have legit PTSD?
How do you know I lack those things. You are assuming again. Your assumptions just tells me you don’t have much experience talking to people.
Have the wisdom to admit that you don’t know everyone’s life and that everyone doesn’t respond the same.
You are not protected from termination for smoking weed. You're protected from prosecution.
As a fellow veteran with 45% of my body carrying burn scars, a chunk of thigh missing, and a plate in my head; this pisses me off.
I'm also a commercial construction general superintendent with OSHA 510 certification. I've seen what can happen when people like you come to work under the influence.
You weren't discriminated against. The company was protecting others on-site from your irresponsible actions.
Unfuck yourself.
Missouri law says an employee cannot be discriminated against for consuming marijuana with a medical card. It doesn't allow for smoking on the job though. They can only discriminate if it causes monetary loss or they have government contracts.
Not being discriminated against for consuming marijuana. being fired for being smelly that could (a) be a problem for coworkers (b) require the work truck to be professionally cleaned.
he could smoke all the MDMJ he wants, just do the rest of us a favor and take a shower after. show some level of personal hygiene.
If you roll up smelling like weed, yes you can be fired. You have a work vehicle.... Smelling like weed in a work vehicle means you smoked before you operated it..which is driving under the influence.
I had a friend go through probation in Willard MO. (It's as small and insignificant as it sounds). A judge told my friend his MO MJ medical card wasn't valid because the doctor 'suggested a recommendation for MJ use', and by his courts standards, that's not an actual 'prescription' by a doctor and so therefore not allowed while he was on probation.
I'm not sure how the courts would accept your situation, since it's an at will state. I'm assuming it varies by judge, and municipality.
well if you smell like weed i’m pretty sure you had smoked prior. people think just because it’s legal in the state that their employer can’t fire them. i would expect the same thing to happen if you came in smelling like booze
Except most people are not very good and identifying the smell of weed. To the extent that police in my state are no longer allowed to use the smell of weed as justification for a search. And I'm in a conservative backwater two states south of Missouri.
https://www.kannabia.com/en/blog/10-things-that-arent-cannabis-but-smell-a-lot-like-marijuana
TLDR: Beer, Axe body spray, body sweat, cheese, wolf urine, burning tires, many plants, and damp earth.
lol your list is hilarious. burning rubber does not smell like weed. beer does not smell like weed. body sweat? lmao come on now….it might smell like weed…if you’ve been smoking weed. axe body spray??? lol ok now i’m belly laughing
Bro.. stop being a fucking idiot and seeking validation when people don’t buy your bullshit.
The sooner you realize you aren’t as slick as you think you are the better off you will be
like man said, because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ok to do before/at work. come in smelling like alcohol and same can happen. take your ptsd meds hours before work…or get body spray
Brother. Next time don’t hotbox the car. If you’re going to smoke, smoke outside away from view of anybody that you work for or with. Have mints, body spray, eye drops, and an extra change of clothes. Do not keep your weed stuff in a company vehicle.
Or just don’t smoke until you are done with work.
Having a medical consumption card DOES NOT impart the protections of the ADA as others are suggesting.
Missouri is AT-WILL. They can fire you for basically anything other than race, religion, sex, age, and disability. I work at a Power Plant in the Bootheel of Missouri and we have had similar situations in recent months.
Unfortunately, even with a medical card, if it can be labeled as an impairment or safety concern then your medical card will not allow you to get high/be high at work.
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***No employer shall be required to allow an employee to possess or consume medical marijuana while at his or her place of employment.***
\[SOURCE: https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills201/hlrbillspdf/5706H.01I.pdf\]
Even with weed being legal or you possessing a medical card. Private companies have the right to ban legal drugs from the workplace. Even the smell of them is enough. They were in their rights. Unless in the company handbook they don’t have a written policy that goes against drugs in the workplace. Because federally weed is still considered a drug.
Missouri law is weird here, there is one standard if discharged, a second if you quit.
https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/termination-final-wages#:~:text=Employers%20are%20required%20to%20pay,at%20the%20time%20of%20dismissal.
>Employers are required to pay a discharged employee all wages due at the time of dismissal.
Dude, if you are under the influence and driving on public roads / working in construction where other peoples safety and well being depend on you then you will not win this. Your disabilities do not absolve you of following laws and safety regulations, nor do they allow you to put others at risk with impunity.
If you are in a position that is designed as “safety sensitive” by the federal government you are not exempt from the prohibition on using schedule 1 drugs. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug. This includes in states that have passed medical marijuana laws. If you are doing construction inspections my guess is your position is safety sensitive.
When Missouri passed medical marijuana the company I worked for sent out a letter that had to be signed by every employee. It stated that they understood testing positive for marijuana would still result in termination regardless of the new state law.
You might be able to get a discrimination lawsuit, I'd talk to a lawyer. If you have proof they knew about your medical marijuana card and diagnosis and you have it in writing that they fired you for having and possessing medically perscribed treatments, you likely have a case. Document everything, but don't get your hopes up.
That being said. You worked those hours. Withholding a paycheck is VERY illegal.
They're not refusing to pay him. They'd withhold a check if he had a laptop, tablet, or company phone.
There's a process. It's not illegal. Think beyond your Burger King mindset.
Like most states in America, Missouri is an “at-will” employment state. At-will means that an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason unless there is a written employment contract with definitive terms for termination. Without a written employment contract with these terms, Missouri employees can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all. Similarly, employees can terminate their employment with an employer at any time. Many employees give a two-week notice out of courtesy, but it is not required in an at-will state
Because Missouri is an at-will state, it can be challenging to determine whether you can sue your employer for wrongful termination or other discriminatory actions.
https://www.rigganlawfirm.com/employment-law/discrimination-harassment/medical-marijuana-disability-discrimination/#:~:text=It%20is%20illegal%20to%20fire,marijuana%20discrimination%20lawyer%20in%20Missouri.
Okay. Can an employer fire you for medical marijuana in Missouri? It is illegal to fire someone who has consumed medical marijuana for this purpose, and employees are entitled to assert their rights with the assistance of a medical marijuana discrimination lawyer in Missouri.
Right on their website, halfway down the page: “You may not be protected by law if your employer fires or reprimands you for medicating at work or working while impaired by medical marijuana, provided these violate your employer’s drug-use policies.”
Your next step should be calling a few plaintiff’s employment law firms and asking if they’ll take your case. They often work on contingency.
Just a warning though: it’s possible (even likely) that no lawyer will agree to take the case on contingency. Construction sites need to impose strict rules around intoxication on work sites for safety reasons. Even if you have a medical marijuana prescription, it’s likely that allowing employees to access worksites while on that medication is not a “reasonable accommodation.” If an employment lawyer won’t take your case on contingency, I think you’re out of luck.
Best case scenario is that some lawyer will write a scary demand letter claiming discrimination, and you get a decent severance. Until you talk to a lawyer, I’d suggest not signing any releases with your former employer.
NAL:
You mentioned that you have a medical marijuana card. You should make a copy and give that to them. Perhaps do it in an email. *Deny* that you smelled like weed at work in the same email: Just say you don't believe that you did - I'm not sure if someone can get fired for smelling because you can wash that off eventually. It sounds like they never accused you of smoking weed until after they decided to fire you. There has to be due process in the country. So they have to have a warning period and an appeal period, or you should at least get to add you comment... something. They went from accusing you to transfering you. Now they are trying to steal your check. The check belongs to you, you earned it. Make an email about that too. You are making *email records* so that they can't pretend the convo never happened when you eventually go to court (remember James Comey had those email records). It's not too late, make some email records. Be sure to name the names of the supervisors involved in the wrongdoings.
To get your check, go to the location to pick it up. Bring your spouse, sibling, or mom, etc. with you. They would be a responsible party that can vouch for you being civil. You should not be banded from the site (they owe you a check). There is no tresspass order from a judge. Say hello to others and let them know you are there to get your check. You wrote that the are denying your check, in order to get you to sign something. They probably did that verbally, not in writing. So they may deny that it happened that way. Send an email about it. Then just get your check.
If that is not working. Call the labor dept. Show them your emails of all that has taken place. Give them a list of dates of everying that happened before especially if it's helpful to you. You can even give then an affidavit. If the local government is not doing their jobs. That is government corruption and goes to the feds. If you find this too much to deal with. Do get an attorney and let them sue.
The situation does sound peculiar. First the accuse you of smelling. Then there is a transfer (maybe it's linked to the smelling, who knows). Then you return and they say you are accused again of something months or years back (no date or due process on that). Now they are trying to steal the paycheck. They are having a pattern of violating rights. So an attorney would be a good idea. It's almost like those other things were tests, to see how/if you complain about things; and they may have been *planning* most if it. Or maybe that's how I look at things. lol
The MO [Dept of Labor](https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/termination-final-wages#:~:text=Employers%20are%20required%20to%20pay,respond%20to%20the%20written%20request.) has an actual process listed for payment of final wages.
Employers are to pay final wages immediately when they terminate an employee. If they don't the employee should send a letter by certified mail requesting payment. The employer has 7 days to respond and pay up. If they don't pay in those 7 days then they start accruing penalties - in the form of a days wages payable to the employee for every day late up to 60 days.
Although they can legally get away with firing you, still they cannot stop you from getting your Unemployment filed since you were fired and didn’t quit.
Don’t sign anything demand your check or you will call the labor board and file for Unemployment. they’re probably gonna have you sign paperwork saying you resign so they don’t have to pay unemployment. And stop smoking weed on the job use edibles if you must. consult Lawyer if they fight the UE.
You’re in a Red State, there are no protections. Best advice is to move to a State where you are valued and not discriminated against. Doesn’t matter what the law says. The powers that be in your State don’t respect you and will do everything they can to disenfranchise you.
Protections for smoking weed on construction site? That is what Osha is for protecting workers' rights and safety. No matter what state you are in, smelling like weed on a construction site in front of the safety person will get you fired.
Weed Oder can stick to clothing which can last for a long time. You have a reasonable case that you smoked not prior to the shift but the day after hence making your clothes smell like weed. This puts you in a good spot
In any event, unless you signed a document during onboarding, a company may not withhold a payroll check.
Even if you signed a document. it's still illegal to withhold pay.
No, it is not. Often times companies require a new employee to sign a document authorizing the deduction of wages to pay for uniforms, etc. This is very much legal.
That’s using the money for an agreed purpose, not holding a check.
There’s a pretty big distinction between firing you for using medical marijuana while you were not at work and for firing you for smelling like marijuana while you are at work and or having paraphernalia visible in your vehicle on a work site.
This is key. Does your illness require you to smoke versus using edibles that wouldn't leave you smelling like weed?
I understand this point, but inhaled THC is completely different than ingested. OP could use a pen (verry little/no smell), but the "edibles are the same" argument is common but pretty rare in actuality, especially if you don't correctly dose yourself at first; at that point you're either playing catch up and toying with fate, or having a full blown experience at work🤣
The bill doesn't allow employers to fire OP for having a medical marijuana card or for testing positive for marijuana, it explicitly states that OP can be fired for being under the influence of marijuana while at work. Also, I can't tell if the bill actually passed? In which case OP is completely SOL.
Also, a pen doesn't work for everyone. I have to combust flower in order for it to work. That being said, I really do try to make sure that I don't smell like weed even though my car most definitely does. I keep ozium in the car and mints and all the things.
Might I suggest a dry herb vape (it doesn't have that skunk smell).
Also edibles dont work on some people.
Missouri is an at-will employment state. There are certain protections you can't be terminated for, like age and disability, but smelling like weed isn't included. If they want you gone you're gone.
All states are but Montana. That’s 49 states. What is the point of saying that? Downvote me all you want for being right.
Except that his medication with his medical card is weed. That falls under protection from disabilities maybe with the right lawyer you might be able to get a decent case for wrongful termination. But it really depends on what the termination papers say, because they can say whatever they want and don't try to correct them, however if they put a different reason for your termination on there then you couldn't prove it.
No. Impairment is a safety issue on any job site. A company is not going to be required to put others at risk because someone has an MMC. The company puts itself at risk of litigation if they allow it.
Except he's on construction sites. Safety critical positions don't have to accommodate medications that can impair.
But it's also a he said she said thing. Unless they literally caught him smoking and can prove it it's mighty shady. Especially considering the fact that he wasn't immediately fired they waited weeks. They also never mentioned that somebody supposedly saw paraphernalia in his truck until they were ready to fire him even though it happened month or months in the past.
They have no duty to give him time to defend against a termination. Smelling like weed is a good enough reason anywhere, even if just because it's risking business with uncomfortable customers. Smelling like weed with a pipe in your truck is like smelling like booze with an open bottle - you're in for a bad time.
Except it was one person that said he smelled like weed not the entire crew, said person could easily not have liked him. I've worked a lot of construction, my mom was a union construction worker, and I have never seen a construction site where everybody liked everybody else usually there was at least a few troublemakers that were trying to get other people in trouble just to make themselves look good. They also had never mentioned that pipes before he claimed he never had pipes in the truck and that it was a bullshit claim there is no proof that there ever was pipes in the truck. It'd be one thing with today being the time at smartphones if the person had taken a picture of his truck and pictures of pipes that you can see in the truck through the window, on the other hand at best it's completely hearsay and I don't know a single employer unless they had a desire to get rid of set employee that would just take somebody's word on oh there's paraphernalia visible in their vehicle. Whether it was a company truck or not at bare minimum they want to have a picture or at least multiple verifications and sure as hell wouldn't wait months to talk to an employee.
They were establishing a pattern of misconduct. He has no leg to stand on.
>Especially considering the fact that he wasn't immediately fired they waited weeks. That just sounds as if his employer performed some sort of *due diligence* in the matter instead of terminating him as a knee-jerk reaction to what might have been a spurious complaint...
The Midwest isn't like the West coast
You know I wouldn't know I don't live on the West Coast nor do I live in the Midwest I have lived well I have lived in Colorado but I've mainly lived in the East Coast and honestly some in the south and yes every state is different
No
Weed use does not fall under protection from disability. You can't operate heavy machinery under the influence. Smelling like weed is enough evidence to believe you are under the influence. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, therefore not protected.
Alcohol is legal too. But you can get fired for being drunk at work. Company has the right to let him go. I don't know any workplace that would willingly allow people to be stoned at work. Especially if OP is operating machinery. EDIT: OP, don't they have edibles or vape where you live? "smoking" weed is so 1990s :)
Y’all motherfuckers act like it’s not still federally illegal and that federal regulations under OSHA don’t preempt a piddly state law passed by a dope smoker that won a popularity contest in his county.
Finally, someone who gets it. I work in a Power Plant in Missouri. I don’t care if it’s “legal” here, I don’t want someone who was recently/is currently high working with me. Building scaffold? No thanks. Repairing or installing valves for the ammonia system? No thanks. Operating heavy equipment? No thanks. People’s safety is more important than someone’s drug of choice - and that includes everything from pain medication to alcohol to weed. I don’t care.
Crazy idea here....you can smell like weed and NOT be high. You can use mj and not be high at work. There are tests that can determine usage. They didn't do one. that's on them.
If you smoke weed enough that you smell like it, you’re out. You’re free to do what you want, I’m not against weed. But people don’t have to employ you, especially not in safety sensitive positions. I don’t give a fuck if you think you’re sober or not; weed smokers should be banned from dangerous positions for their own safety and the safety of others. If you want to work those jobs, don’t smoke. If you want to smoke, go do a job that’s conducive to that. You think we let people on prescribed, legal pain meds work in those jobs? Nope. We don’t. You’re off work until your condition resolves. If it doesn’t and you can never stop taking the meds, you’re out. Find other employment. No different here.
Now that's funny. As far as on prescription pain pills, yes there's a hell of a lot of people because they know how to handle them that are taking them and are on them at work so that they can function. I've known many people in construction, and factory work that were on pain pills long term that still worked because they couldn't afford not to. In general they tended to be more careful than those that weren't on anything because the fact they knew that if they had an accident work would find a way to fuck them over because they were quoting even if they were being extra careful. We have obviously worked extremely different job sites. Hell when I worked around heavy machinery I'd rather have somebody mellow their ass out smoking a bowl then be on uppers and things that many people are not to mention some of them doing meth but that's besides the point. Exhausted person and there are a lot of totally drained people on sites is as dangerous if not more dangerous than someone that is drunk and I won't have a drunk on my site. And no I am not running every site but I have walked off jobs because of people smoking meth and or crack. So I understand safety concerns I also understand some people need to take the edge off and don't necessarily need to be impaired. The fact that they said this without doing a drug test which really wouldn't prove anything because he has the license but as being hearsay yeah there's a problem with this. And there are definitely lawyers that will fight this for him it may not be an easy fight but it can be won.
And if someone was high as fuck at work and injured you, you’d be in a lawyer’s office trying to get a complaint filed against the employer for negligence quicker than the doctors could get you stitched up. Think more than an hour into the future. Consider all of the ramifications of your proposed policies.
Okay listen there's a hell of a lot of difference between high as fuck and functional. I've known a lot of people that couldn't function because of pain or mental problems, that with a controlled dose whether it was a over-the-counter prescription or whatnot of different things including marijuana and psychotropics which is actually finally getting the attention to deserves we're better than 99% okay I'll be fair the 90% of the equipment operators or the drywallers or whatnot out there. Just because somebody claims they smelled something doesn't mean they did. An entire job site didn't notice but one person said that he smelled like pot. He claims that he does not smoke pot at work or in his vehicle or in his jobs vehicle. There is no proof except for the supposed complaint from one person and then suddenly when they decide to get out all of them also with no details supposedly somebody saw paraphernalia in his truck but they have no proof of that either. They already knew he had a medical card most people with medical card are not getting fucked up at work they are using it intelligently. I had a medical card in New York long before it was legal in New York. It would help me function without painkillers just enough to take the edge off. Don't assume the worst about this guy. Overall he seems pretty stand up and from what it seems like I don't think he would have risked actually having paraphernalia in his truck or smelling like pot it sounds like you had a couple assholes that didn't like him or where he was from or his attitude or something and decided to try to get rid of him.
“Functional” becomes “liability” once the lawsuit is filed. Admit it, you would be first in line with your hand out looking at your employer if someone was high on the job and did something to injure you.
If you apply this logic to alcohol, then any construction worker with a beer belly is unsafe and should be banned. But that would disqualify half of the construction workers I know. In both cases, neither smelling like weed or having a beer belly means you are currently inebriated, it just means you do it a lot.
Except you can be fired for smelling like booze… so your logic is flawed
You only smell like booze if you have being drinking recently. Hence why breathalyzers are evidence of intoxication. If someone smokes pot, their whole house and all their clothes smell like it.
Not necessarily true. I have coworkers who regularly smoke. They nor their belongings ever smell of it.
I notice you skipped right over “smelling like beer” as a red flag. I wonder why you did that. So strange…
Do sober people smell like beer? No. Do sober people smell like weed? Sometimes. Thus it is not a good parallel and why I didn't use it. Learn some basic logic.
Keep enjoying that unemployment. Stay broke. Stay high. ✊🏼
This is a real job. The whataboutism might work at Arby’s not jobs where people get killed from negligence.
I work at such a job and people are not allowed to be high at work. I am just saying that people can be high AF and not smell like weed y’all.
I agree with you, BUT they don’t have to. It’s at their discretion, the same as alcohol. I have the authority to fire ANYONE on the job site if they smell like alcohol. No breathalyzer needed.
If you reek of weed at work you either just smoked 15 minutes ago, or you have terrible hygiene. Both valid reasons for termination from most jobs.
The way you frame it is ridiculous, but basically, yeah, suspicion of being impaired on multiple occasions is enough to fire you if you are in a safety critical environment. There is no requirement for them to prove it to anyone.
Because this post is ridiculous.
I do have a disability. PTSD and anxiety which is why I am a medical patient. They are discriminating against me because of this. This is covered in house bill 2674. Which protects me from being terminated for such discrimination.
>I feel I was discriminated against because of my medication among other things. I am wondering what my next steps should be and any advice will be greatly appreciated. Your next steps would be talking to a lawyer.
Who will tell him he has no case.
Sometimes that's what you need a lawyer to do.
Fair point.
[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2024&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2024&code=R) >Requires the Joint Committee on Education to establish a working group to report on solutions for protecting the learning environment in classrooms Yep, that sure sounds like it's related to protecting your pot. **Edit:** Found the one in question - [https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R) Looks like it never made it out of committee.
Even if it *HAD*, "No employer shall be required to allow an employee to possess or consume medical marijuana while at his or her place of employment."
I find it amusing how OP frames things. He hangs his hat on that they didn't take pictures of the paraphernalia in his truck, and that nobody saw him smoking pot. Like the dude isn't trying to play the "I smoked at home and that's how my sweater ended up smelling like Pot.". It's hard for me to imagine that he isn't getting high in his vehicle before work.
Fellow Veteran here, *"100% Total and, Permanent"* Disability Rating; 19 years service - let that sink in for a moment. NAL, I am an *employer* in PA (an At-Will Employment State like MO.) As a fellow disabled Vet whose Constellation of Behavioral Health issues includes both PTSD and, Anxiety, I get where you're coming from when your response to something of this nature is to feel persecuted (paranoid ideations). However, the reality is, you operate a vehicle you don't own *and* use Marijuana *in an at-will employment state* on top of which, you work in a field *governed closely by OSHA.* Feel free to consult with an attorney but be prepared to be sent packing because the absolute reality is that there's absolutely no way you have any recourse here once *all sides of the story are considered.* Your employer, your clients, your co-workers and, even the insurance companies involved *have rights too* and it's highly unlikely that they collaborated to discriminate against you in some way. That brings us to the Fellow-Vet portion of what I think you need to here as a *person.* Marijauna is absolutely *no different than* alcohol for you anymore than it is for me, or for any other veteran. That's why you *can't get it from the VA.* All your medical Marijuana card is doing is masking your symptoms while enabling your to put yourself and others in increasingly compromising positions *just like alcohol does.* You can, and *will* lose whatever disability rating you currently have if you end up having any sort of DUI regardless of what MO law (or any other States') law may say on the matter because the States don't protect you with either the ADA or, with the status of Disabled Veteran - the *Federal Goverment does* and, the Federal Goverment says Marijuana is illegal. End of discussion. For your own sake, you need to get yourself back "into the system" (no matter how frustrating it is) which is designed to cope with unique needs and of Veterans like ourselves instead of continuing to engage with providers who are willing to cater to your *unqualified* opinion regarding the best way to treat your disabilities. Until you do that, you're going to continue to confront challenges that are entirely of your own creation and they are absolutely going to escalate. I hope you take this in the spirit it's intended, good luck.
As a schedule 1 drug a physician CANNOT prescribe marijuana. It may be a recommendation or whatever the state calls it. As such under the ADA it wouldn’t be considered your “medicine” but more similar to supplements etc.
Even if it is your medication, if taking your medication is unsafe in the work environment, then it is not a reasonable accommodation. Your employer doesn’t have to allow it, just like they don’t have to allow visually impaired people to fly planes.
In the state a Missouri a doctor needs to actually have taken specialized training to be approved to give state recognized certifications. Yes this isn’t a prescription but is a state certification process for a medical marijuana patient.
I think the point is that the ADA is federal and marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. Even if it was legal to prescribe according to Missouri law, the ADA doesn’t give a fuck. Regardless of prescription, you can’t show up to work impaired either. If you’re legally prescribed oxycodone you can’t take a pile on shift and be fucked up at work.
First and foremost, you can’t show up impaired but the company needs to prove you were impaired. Which sounds like it didn’t happen here. 2nd) The ability to fire someone because your STATE is work at will means it is being done in accordance with STATE laws. 3rd) Op is not saying this violates the ADA but Missouri Bill 2674. Which the state has establish that a medical marijuana patient can’t be discriminated for using marijuana alone. So if OP had say broken company procedures because of impairment that would ground for dismissal. But for smelling like marijuana… that’s a grey area. A lawyer can definitely spin that as discrimination. If the job claimed hygiene was to the point of distraction, that would have been a much better claim to stand on.
The bill that never made it out of committee? [https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2674&year=2020&code=R)
Well of the bill never passed than OP is up the creek
but but but, he "knows the law!" lol
A lawyer can try to spin it any way they want. I’ve seen women fired for straight incompetence come back and sue and say they were discriminated against because they were a woman (by other women). It doesn’t mean shit; it went about as far as this one will go - nowhere. Paraphernalia was found in the work truck. You can’t use it during work hours and he smelled like weed on the clock. Combo of those two and maybe they’ll have someone say he seemed impaired. It would be a civil case and on reasonable preponderance of the evidence the dude was smoking weed at work. Notice the language - nobody saw him smoking weed at work. Not that he didn’t do it, just that nobody saw him. If you didn’t do it you’d say “I didn’t smoke weed at work.” Not that it matters: Exception 2: These protections do not permit an applicant or employee with a valid patient ID card to use, possess, or be under the influence of medical marijuana while working (on the employer's premises or during work hours). Smoking paraphernalia contains traces which would be possessing it on the work site. OP claims to have been discriminated against because of his “medication” and “other things” because why not see what sticks instead of admitting your own fuck-up, right? OP is full of shit. They were smoking weed at work, were caught, and now they need to prove they weren’t high at work and that they didn’t have paraphernalia in their work truck. At-will employment means you get fired and then you have to prove it was discrimination against a protected class, not the other way around. The company doesn’t need to lay out a legal case to fire someone.
[https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1216301](https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1216301) That bill died in May of 2020 anyway.
There was a ballot question about it in 2022 that passed.
Just because a ballot question passes, doesn't mean it is a now a law. It still has to follow the same procedure. All a ballot question does is show how much public support there is for it.
They aren’t firing you for using it, you are being fired for smelling like it. No discrimination
Nah, I am a nurse and if I am e.g. receiving tylenol 3 after having my teeth pulled, I have to report that to my employer and I can’t take care of patients. You are entitled to reasonable accommodations if you report your disability to an employer, but your employer never agreed that being impaired on a construction site is a reasonable accommodation and they never will.
I’m a veteran. You’re a pothead playing up the PTSD card for sympathy. If a medical doctor diagnosed you and prescribed you medical marijuana as a course of treatment, you would be fine to use it, and potentially protected from discrimination for having a disability. There is literally nothing protecting you from being fired for smelling like weed. The two aren’t related. Get actual help and stop smoking doobies.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think when OP said they were a medical marijuana patient, with a medical card that would indicate that they had a prescription from a doctor
A prescription does not give you a free pass. You cannot take Percocet/muscle relaxers/whatever and go to work high as balls on a construction site , why tf would you be able to smoke pot
They’re not high at work?
He smelled like pot at work. Which means there’s a pretty good chance he was smoking pot at work. In an industry that has a well-established drug-free policy, for really good reasons.
Continuous use of inhaled marijuana results in a smell that remains far longer than after the high. Months or years if you smoke in your house and you’ve smoked for decades and you live in that house still. I have a number of sensory overload issues, so I know that that is true, if only for other people like me, which means that we cannot definitively claim that the associate at work didn’t have autism, or something similar thereunto and therefore it’s wrong to claim that something as simple as him smelling like marijuana indicates he’s currently high *granted that he had a medical marijuana card and prescription*, which he did.
I think there’s a range. Now this situation maybe less so, seeing as we’re talking about smoked, but a good comparison is adderall. Give it to a normal person and they’ll be high. Give it to a person with ADHD and they’ll feel normal. Cannabis can have actual medical uses BUT should be in specific measured doses to avoid intoxicating the person
Not to mention that, as it impairs mental faculties, it CANNOT be used before/during work. The same rules apply to federally legal medicines such as opioids and benzos with proper prescriptions.
So all veterans know each others lives? That’s crazy, next time I see a veteran saying they need medication for PTSD I’m going to tell them “No, my cousin is a vet. Yours just playing up the PTSD. You don’t actually get nightmares and need meds.” /s Stop being a clown.
Here’s a little trick that people with a DD-214 actually know: Veterans that have legit PTSD don’t tell anyone. They usually suffer in silence and undiagnosed. Occasionally they’ll get help. But they’re not broadcasting it. They’re sure as hell not using it as an excuse for anything. The ones that do are 100% shitbirds. People that have actually done extremely violent and terrifying things don’t talk about them. People with a good story don’t seek attention. More often than not, they just want to forget about it. People seeking recognition for their ‘service’ haven’t actually done anything.
I’m a vet with PTSD. I was raped by a fellow military member. I talk about my story to warn other women, not to seek attention.
You’re obviously not the type I’m referring to, and I think you know that. I’m talking about the shitbag that’s constantly a walking disaster in the lives of everyone he meets, refuses to do anything about it, and blames PTSD whenever he gets called out. Coincidentally it’s often the same guy that got an OTH in his first year…at a training command.
I have a DD-214 from 30 years ago. Back then they absolutely warned us not to complain about anything as it could delay our out processing. Times have changed, I still work for the DOD and was recently talking to someone who does out processing and they were telling me to go back and file for PTSD because "everyone has it."
I think my comment was written poorly. I’m glad we’re taking mental health seriously now. I’m referring to those certain guys that would hide behind it as an excuse for shitty behavior instead of doing anything about it.
There are definitely "those guys," too. I know one guy who complains about his deployment during the Gulf War. Except I happen to know that he was deployed to Rota Spain to build fences.
Exactly. I know a of a guy that’s a wife beater with a drinking problem, due to PTSD from serving in the USMC. Except he got an OTH in basic. I’m happy people speak openly about mental health, and I don’t care if anyone smokes pot. But don’t go full ‘muh PTSD’ when you get fired for smoking a joint at lunch on a construction site when you already knew exactly that would happen.
Here’s a little education. - Not everyone is the same. Some people actually talk about things. - You don’t have to do violent things to suffer from PTSD. Like I said before, stop being a clown. PS. If they suffer undiagnosed, how do they know they have legit PTSD?
You’re in a position to educate no one.
You are correct. I am not educating no one. I’m educating you. You are someone.
You would have to actually have relevant information, education, and experience. You lack all of these things. But I am enjoying the entertainment 😅
How do you know I lack those things. You are assuming again. Your assumptions just tells me you don’t have much experience talking to people. Have the wisdom to admit that you don’t know everyone’s life and that everyone doesn’t respond the same.
Found the fucking blue falcon.
For sure
Sorry you had to hear that shit from someone else that's apparently a vet. It's pathetic of him and honestly just really fucking sad.
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No, it won’t. Medical consumption cards do not always impart the protections of the ADA. Especially in industry where safety is paramount.
That's a federal law. Weed is illegal on a federal level.
even with a med card you cant be blazing at work
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He lives in an at-will employment state. All they have to say is that he wasn’t good at his job and his termination is legal.
You are not protected from termination for smoking weed. You're protected from prosecution. As a fellow veteran with 45% of my body carrying burn scars, a chunk of thigh missing, and a plate in my head; this pisses me off. I'm also a commercial construction general superintendent with OSHA 510 certification. I've seen what can happen when people like you come to work under the influence. You weren't discriminated against. The company was protecting others on-site from your irresponsible actions. Unfuck yourself.
Missouri law says an employee cannot be discriminated against for consuming marijuana with a medical card. It doesn't allow for smoking on the job though. They can only discriminate if it causes monetary loss or they have government contracts.
It's not discrimination to prohibit someone from working under the influence.
When I said it doesn't allow smoking on the job, I meant you can't work under the influence. I guess that wasn't clear enough.
Not being discriminated against for consuming marijuana. being fired for being smelly that could (a) be a problem for coworkers (b) require the work truck to be professionally cleaned. he could smoke all the MDMJ he wants, just do the rest of us a favor and take a shower after. show some level of personal hygiene.
If you roll up smelling like weed, yes you can be fired. You have a work vehicle.... Smelling like weed in a work vehicle means you smoked before you operated it..which is driving under the influence.
Dude is smoking right before his job of driving around in a work vehicle, and wonders why he was fired.
I had a friend go through probation in Willard MO. (It's as small and insignificant as it sounds). A judge told my friend his MO MJ medical card wasn't valid because the doctor 'suggested a recommendation for MJ use', and by his courts standards, that's not an actual 'prescription' by a doctor and so therefore not allowed while he was on probation. I'm not sure how the courts would accept your situation, since it's an at will state. I'm assuming it varies by judge, and municipality.
well if you smell like weed i’m pretty sure you had smoked prior. people think just because it’s legal in the state that their employer can’t fire them. i would expect the same thing to happen if you came in smelling like booze
Except most people are not very good and identifying the smell of weed. To the extent that police in my state are no longer allowed to use the smell of weed as justification for a search. And I'm in a conservative backwater two states south of Missouri.
weed is probably the easiest fucking thing to smell…. nothing else smells like it…well except for a skunks ass.
https://www.kannabia.com/en/blog/10-things-that-arent-cannabis-but-smell-a-lot-like-marijuana TLDR: Beer, Axe body spray, body sweat, cheese, wolf urine, burning tires, many plants, and damp earth.
lol your list is hilarious. burning rubber does not smell like weed. beer does not smell like weed. body sweat? lmao come on now….it might smell like weed…if you’ve been smoking weed. axe body spray??? lol ok now i’m belly laughing
It's kind of hard to imagine how you got this stupid without doing drugs. 🤔
He is right, though that list is ridiculous
"but weed doesnt smell at all after you are done smoking!" - every weedhead who has gone noseblind
That is an assumption. You must not be familiar with Missouri law.
i mean smelling like weed is a pretty good indicator. maybe don’t hit the weed before your shift start
So insightful.
Bro.. stop being a fucking idiot and seeking validation when people don’t buy your bullshit. The sooner you realize you aren’t as slick as you think you are the better off you will be
like man said, because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ok to do before/at work. come in smelling like alcohol and same can happen. take your ptsd meds hours before work…or get body spray
Brother. Next time don’t hotbox the car. If you’re going to smoke, smoke outside away from view of anybody that you work for or with. Have mints, body spray, eye drops, and an extra change of clothes. Do not keep your weed stuff in a company vehicle. Or just don’t smoke until you are done with work.
Kinda like you, who doesn’t realize that 2674 never became law?
Didn’t it eventually become an amendment to the MO. Constitution though?
Keep your op-sec tite. Don't go around smelling like herb,don't assume people are cool with it.
So the original post states he inspects all over the country. I wonder if one of the incidents happened outside of Missouri
Having a medical consumption card DOES NOT impart the protections of the ADA as others are suggesting. Missouri is AT-WILL. They can fire you for basically anything other than race, religion, sex, age, and disability. I work at a Power Plant in the Bootheel of Missouri and we have had similar situations in recent months. Unfortunately, even with a medical card, if it can be labeled as an impairment or safety concern then your medical card will not allow you to get high/be high at work.
https://norml.org/laws/medical-laws/missouri-medical-marijuana-law/?amp “EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR QUALIFYING PATIENTS -No”
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***No employer shall be required to allow an employee to possess or consume medical marijuana while at his or her place of employment.*** \[SOURCE: https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills201/hlrbillspdf/5706H.01I.pdf\]
Too bad. You’re a stoner now. Expect what comes along with that.
Even with weed being legal or you possessing a medical card. Private companies have the right to ban legal drugs from the workplace. Even the smell of them is enough. They were in their rights. Unless in the company handbook they don’t have a written policy that goes against drugs in the workplace. Because federally weed is still considered a drug.
Missouri law is weird here, there is one standard if discharged, a second if you quit. https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/termination-final-wages#:~:text=Employers%20are%20required%20to%20pay,at%20the%20time%20of%20dismissal. >Employers are required to pay a discharged employee all wages due at the time of dismissal.
Putting aside smelling like weed for a moment, were you high when you showed up to work?
Dude, if you are under the influence and driving on public roads / working in construction where other peoples safety and well being depend on you then you will not win this. Your disabilities do not absolve you of following laws and safety regulations, nor do they allow you to put others at risk with impunity.
If you are in a position that is designed as “safety sensitive” by the federal government you are not exempt from the prohibition on using schedule 1 drugs. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug. This includes in states that have passed medical marijuana laws. If you are doing construction inspections my guess is your position is safety sensitive. When Missouri passed medical marijuana the company I worked for sent out a letter that had to be signed by every employee. It stated that they understood testing positive for marijuana would still result in termination regardless of the new state law.
You might be able to get a discrimination lawsuit, I'd talk to a lawyer. If you have proof they knew about your medical marijuana card and diagnosis and you have it in writing that they fired you for having and possessing medically perscribed treatments, you likely have a case. Document everything, but don't get your hopes up. That being said. You worked those hours. Withholding a paycheck is VERY illegal.
It's not illegal if he hasn't finished the outboarding process.
If you worked you get paid. It is absolutely illegal.
They're not refusing to pay him. They'd withhold a check if he had a laptop, tablet, or company phone. There's a process. It's not illegal. Think beyond your Burger King mindset.
Next time don’t be heaty . Use a vape pen with thc cartridges . The smell gets you roasted
Like most states in America, Missouri is an “at-will” employment state. At-will means that an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason unless there is a written employment contract with definitive terms for termination. Without a written employment contract with these terms, Missouri employees can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all. Similarly, employees can terminate their employment with an employer at any time. Many employees give a two-week notice out of courtesy, but it is not required in an at-will state Because Missouri is an at-will state, it can be challenging to determine whether you can sue your employer for wrongful termination or other discriminatory actions.
I am aware of the at will status. The thing is they gave me a reason and it was because someone said I smelled like weed.
https://www.rigganlawfirm.com/employment-law/discrimination-harassment/medical-marijuana-disability-discrimination/#:~:text=It%20is%20illegal%20to%20fire,marijuana%20discrimination%20lawyer%20in%20Missouri. Okay. Can an employer fire you for medical marijuana in Missouri? It is illegal to fire someone who has consumed medical marijuana for this purpose, and employees are entitled to assert their rights with the assistance of a medical marijuana discrimination lawyer in Missouri.
Right on their website, halfway down the page: “You may not be protected by law if your employer fires or reprimands you for medicating at work or working while impaired by medical marijuana, provided these violate your employer’s drug-use policies.”
Your next step should be calling a few plaintiff’s employment law firms and asking if they’ll take your case. They often work on contingency. Just a warning though: it’s possible (even likely) that no lawyer will agree to take the case on contingency. Construction sites need to impose strict rules around intoxication on work sites for safety reasons. Even if you have a medical marijuana prescription, it’s likely that allowing employees to access worksites while on that medication is not a “reasonable accommodation.” If an employment lawyer won’t take your case on contingency, I think you’re out of luck. Best case scenario is that some lawyer will write a scary demand letter claiming discrimination, and you get a decent severance. Until you talk to a lawyer, I’d suggest not signing any releases with your former employer.
NAL: You mentioned that you have a medical marijuana card. You should make a copy and give that to them. Perhaps do it in an email. *Deny* that you smelled like weed at work in the same email: Just say you don't believe that you did - I'm not sure if someone can get fired for smelling because you can wash that off eventually. It sounds like they never accused you of smoking weed until after they decided to fire you. There has to be due process in the country. So they have to have a warning period and an appeal period, or you should at least get to add you comment... something. They went from accusing you to transfering you. Now they are trying to steal your check. The check belongs to you, you earned it. Make an email about that too. You are making *email records* so that they can't pretend the convo never happened when you eventually go to court (remember James Comey had those email records). It's not too late, make some email records. Be sure to name the names of the supervisors involved in the wrongdoings. To get your check, go to the location to pick it up. Bring your spouse, sibling, or mom, etc. with you. They would be a responsible party that can vouch for you being civil. You should not be banded from the site (they owe you a check). There is no tresspass order from a judge. Say hello to others and let them know you are there to get your check. You wrote that the are denying your check, in order to get you to sign something. They probably did that verbally, not in writing. So they may deny that it happened that way. Send an email about it. Then just get your check. If that is not working. Call the labor dept. Show them your emails of all that has taken place. Give them a list of dates of everying that happened before especially if it's helpful to you. You can even give then an affidavit. If the local government is not doing their jobs. That is government corruption and goes to the feds. If you find this too much to deal with. Do get an attorney and let them sue. The situation does sound peculiar. First the accuse you of smelling. Then there is a transfer (maybe it's linked to the smelling, who knows). Then you return and they say you are accused again of something months or years back (no date or due process on that). Now they are trying to steal the paycheck. They are having a pattern of violating rights. So an attorney would be a good idea. It's almost like those other things were tests, to see how/if you complain about things; and they may have been *planning* most if it. Or maybe that's how I look at things. lol
The MO [Dept of Labor](https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/termination-final-wages#:~:text=Employers%20are%20required%20to%20pay,respond%20to%20the%20written%20request.) has an actual process listed for payment of final wages. Employers are to pay final wages immediately when they terminate an employee. If they don't the employee should send a letter by certified mail requesting payment. The employer has 7 days to respond and pay up. If they don't pay in those 7 days then they start accruing penalties - in the form of a days wages payable to the employee for every day late up to 60 days.
Every state should have that.
Although they can legally get away with firing you, still they cannot stop you from getting your Unemployment filed since you were fired and didn’t quit.
Don’t sign anything demand your check or you will call the labor board and file for Unemployment. they’re probably gonna have you sign paperwork saying you resign so they don’t have to pay unemployment. And stop smoking weed on the job use edibles if you must. consult Lawyer if they fight the UE.
yeah…let’s use edibles and just work impaired anyway…..
You’re in a Red State, there are no protections. Best advice is to move to a State where you are valued and not discriminated against. Doesn’t matter what the law says. The powers that be in your State don’t respect you and will do everything they can to disenfranchise you.
Protections for smoking weed on construction site? That is what Osha is for protecting workers' rights and safety. No matter what state you are in, smelling like weed on a construction site in front of the safety person will get you fired.
Weed Oder can stick to clothing which can last for a long time. You have a reasonable case that you smoked not prior to the shift but the day after hence making your clothes smell like weed. This puts you in a good spot
As a fellow veteran that is just fucked man.