Man breaks his leg and gets fired

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
A man worked at a local college. He breaks his leg, no idea how. The college's policy is a mandatory drug test when someone gets hurt. He tested positive and gets fired.

I live in Indiana. If this man worked in Colorado, could the college fire the man for a positive drug test? I would hope so.
 
I suspect it would depend on the company policy. Similar to alcohol, not illegal to consume but fireable to come to work under the influence.
 
Who wants to take bets the college gets sued. We had a guy purposely stick his hand into a properly guarded crimper for pies at work to remove a broken tin, crush his thumb and is now suing us for the injury.Yes stupid can sue, don't know about winning.
 
Colorado employers can fire employees for failing drug tests. Or showing up to work drunk, for that matter.

The fuzzy area with pot is that it stays in the user's system long after most of the effects have worn off. To my knowledge, there's no consistent standard as to what level of THC constitutes impairment.
 
The problem with drugs is the time they can pick it up in your system.

For alcohol if you blow positive you are under the influence.
Usually within hours of consumption you will blow negative.

They can detect drugs in your system for a month or more.
I hardly think you could consider someone under the influence 15 days after the fact.

So is there a drug test that can show under the influence and effecting your abilities at the present moment (like alcohol has) or is the only test they have shows prior use.
 
I understand that marijuana stays in your system for a long time, so you may test positive but not be under the influence. Like was said, company policy dictates, and the new laws open up a whole new can of worms.
 
It would appear that some companies cite federal law for marijuana, being its illegal at that level. I would assume their policies could also be as they wish, same with this local college, bad luck to have a work related injury if you'll test positive. There was a case on the internet involving a handicapped person, in one of the legal states. He was fired as well, took it to court and lost, just recently. He apparently has a medical need, it works, but it was off hours only. Violated company policy and I think they may have referenced federal law for their policies. Rock and a hard place for some folks like him, who is a paraplegic if I recall.
 
Billy, you seem to think an employee can only be fired for illegal drug use. NOT TRUE. Pop a Vicodin at work, for which you have a legitimate need and prescription, and you'll fail a drug test for opiates. Your employer would be fully within it's rights to fire you, since a drug user presents a risk to the employer and other employees.

The reality is that wrongful termination lawsuits are almost always an uphill battle. Your employer doesn't NEED a reason to terminate your employment.
 
George,
Do you know if it happened while he was at work? The factory that I worked at pretty much let anyone go that got hurt at work and had to go see a doctor and miss any work because of the injury. Drug tests were mandatory for anyone injured, but they were released anyway whether they tested positive or not. They told us employees "Yeah, we had to fire them for their own safety."
Wow! I don't miss working there anymore.
Tom
 
I am pretty sure the CO supreme court has ruled that employers can enforce drug rules.

I would fire him.
 
Our drug policy is pretty tough, we have to conform do to work on the natural gas systems, basically zero tolerance.
 
Usually, there is an opportunity to list any prescription medications prior to taking the test. A positive test could refer to prescriptions authorized for use at the time. Whether the person followed proper protocol in notifying his employer about the meds prior to the test would be more likely the cause for termination.
 
It's the same here where I work in NC. Get hurt and they test you for drugs in your system before you head to the hospital. Don't know how they would handle an immediate life threatening injury. Anything in your system and you're gone.
 
OK, I'll take that bet. BYW, I know the man who got fired, throught a mutual friend, so I'll post back if he sues.
 
John in La- You work on a oil drilling rig, IIRC.

Benadryl knocks me out, even though it is OTC.
 
Who all is privy to the test results. Maybe they just say the test was pos cause they wanted rid of the employee for other reasons.
 
There have been a few recent news stories out of Colorado where people were fired for having marijuana in their system, the legality of it has little to do with any individual company policy. Alcohol is legal in all 50 states but the vast majority of companies have policies against drinking alcohol on the job or showing up intoxicated to work.
 
Yes you can get fired for failing a drug test. Several have and im sure more will. Mostly pot smokers, just because the law says pot is legal, it still is illegal to show up to work stoned or traces of the drug thc in your system. Im sure if you show up to work drunk you wouldn't last long. And for the record I don't smoke pot and neither do any of my friends. Most of it is media hype and most of all follow the money.
Tom
 
Most places I know tell a prospective employee "these are the company policies" then as "any questions". Then they say something along the line or "we are offering you a position as a ___________. We will start you out at ____ an hour, are you willing to take this position"? Now as long as company policy doesn't violate any laws violation of those policies can result in dismissal. People suing over getting canned for one or more of those violations seldom win as long as the company has it's ducks in a row. Wal Mart lost one back in the late 80's over dating fellow employees. The couple they canned could have been fired for many other things but management didn't document any of their on duty misbehavior like making out in the stock room. They just used company policy. No one documented their job performance or bad behavior. The court ruled that Wal Mart had no right to tell you who you could and couldn't date. Even as with this couple who were married, but not to each other.

I remember back when I started working. Lot of places would can you for being late once. Now they have to document the times you were late. Show that they talked to you about it and that you did it often enough for it to be a problem. Once every 6 months isn't good enough. Lot of people don't know enough about it so if canned they just move on not knowing that their firing may not have met the letter of the law.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 20:46:36 07/05/15) Most places I know tell a prospective employee "these are the company policies" then as "any questions". Then they say something along the line or "we are offering you a position as a ___________. We will start you out at ____ an hour, are you willing to take this position"? Now as long as company policy doesn't violate any laws violation of those policies can result in dismissal. People suing over getting canned for one or more of those violations seldom win as long as the company has it's ducks in a row. Wal Mart lost one back in the late 80's over dating fellow employees. The couple they canned could have been fired for many other things but management didn't document any of their on duty misbehavior like making out in the stock room. They just used company policy. No one documented their job performance or bad behavior. The court ruled that Wal Mart had no right to tell you who you could and couldn't date. Even as with this couple who were married, but not to each other.

I remember back when I started working. Lot of places would can you for being late once. Now they have to document the times you were late. Show that they talked to you about it and that you did it often enough for it to be a problem. Once every 6 months isn't good enough. Lot of people don't know enough about it so if canned they just move on not knowing that their firing may not have met the letter of the law.

Rick

In Michigan, the employer does not need a reason to fire you. It is a "At Will" state. One of my young relatives just got fired for being late the 2nd day on the job. I know GM would fire you if you had a injury accident. The idea was that you must have broken a safety rule. One of my bosses got fired for having a electrician in a safety enclosure with it energized. He was trying to trouble shoot a robot loader. Nobody got hurt, but that didn't happen again.
 
How'd you get into my head and know what I'm thinking LOL ! That's common knowledge, one had best know what they are signing when hired, that is for sure. It is a lot different today with all the pre-employment qualifications and company handbook/policies you must sign or not be hired.

A customer of mine in the transportation,(people) business has a driver that had an incident while on the clock that involved prescription drugs. I believe he was charged with a DUI or something, which had to be sorted out by an attorney, and was. He was NOT terminated, given the circumstances, it was some odd reaction to something the doc prescribed which was ok to take while on the clock. He worked for them for years afterward until the business was sold, no incidences after, or even prior to. Some other company would have just fired him on the spot, that's how it is today. His boss, my friend, hooked him up with his attorney and helped him get it dropped, he knew he had a good driver based on his performance, he backed him up, all was fine after. Given the cargo of people, its a serious decision to make when something like this happens. I've seen many many drivers with alcohol problems over the years, he was not one of those.
 
He could have been given a random drug test and failed. I am a high voltage splicer every job I go on I test. If the cup says dirty you don't even start.Fail test goodbye.
 
Why wouldn't they? Why would it matter which state? Ooooh because Colorado legalized marijuana. A companies drug policy is a companies drug policy regardless of what the drug laws are I that state. Would he not have been fired if he had booze in his system?
 
I live in Colorado where pot is "legal", but it is still not legal at a federal level. So, when we do randoms at work anybody that pops hot is fired. We had a similar issue lately where one of our engineers went to a concert and indulged. According to him he used that one night and it was two weeks back. I guess it is detectable for quite a while afterwords.

Greg
 
Indiana is an "at-will" state. That means that an employer can fire you "for cause," or "for no cause." The ONLY people who have any protection from being fired arbitrarily are union workers, and then ONLY if they are in compliance with the contract and company rules.

I got fired once because the owner wanted to give his nephew my job. I got unemployment for a few weeks and was hired elsewhere soon after, but that didn't make it easier to swallow.

But according to the law, the employer was within his rights to do this.
 
Wife started a new job. Had to indicate on the application if she is a cigarette smoker. Included nicotine in her drug test. If she tested positive for nicotine... not hired. If she tests positive later, she's fired. BTW, it's a hospital system and I understand that is becoming the norm for them.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top