Up in Smoke

Normally I don't believe in lawsuits but this one I agree with!!!


Fired for Smoking Off the Job, Man Sues

BOSTON - A Massachusetts man fired for smoking while off duty has sued his former company, saying its policy of not employing smokers serves no business purpose and that a urine test for nicotine violates privacy rights, his lawyer said Thursday.


Scott Rodrigues was fired by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. after a mandatory urine test showed evidence of nicotine in his system, lawyer Harvey Schwartz said.

The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court Wednesday seeks unspecified damages against the supplier of lawn and garden products.

"Whether or not he smokes has no impact on his job performance," said Schwartz.

He said he was aiming to have Massachusetts declare Scotts' policy illegal. "The company seems fairly messianic in its desire not to employ smokers," the lawyer said.

The lawsuit said Rodrigues, 30, never smoked at work and noted that Scotts' health-related policies do not restrict "skydiving ... owning dangerous pets ... or spreading toxic chemicals on lawns."

The suit claimed Scotts had no right to test Rodrigues' urine for nicotine, since smoking outside the office is legal.

Scotts in December adopted a policy of not hiring smokers, citing the high costs of providing them with health insurance.

Jim King, a vice president at Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts, said the company has not seen the lawsuit and he could not address it. But he did comment on the policy.

"While we're not interested in dictating our employees' behavior in their free time, we look at smoking differently," King said. "Smoking is completely incompatible with a culture that's trying to improve wellness."

Several U.S. states have banned smoking at work, restaurants and bars.

While employers may restrict smoking in the workplace, most U.S. states have laws preventing companies from refusing to employ people who smoke outside the office. Massachusetts is one of about 20 states that does not have such a law.

Other major U.S. companies with policies limiting the hiring of smokers include Union Pacific Corp and Alaska Air Group Inc.

One legal expert said Rodrigues would have a hard time proving his case, due to Massachusetts employment laws.

"The basic rule of employment at will is you can fire someone for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all as long as it's not on the list of prohibited reasons," said Katharine Silbaugh, a visiting professor at the Harvard School of Law. "You don't like the Red Sox? I can fire you for that. You smoke? I can fire you for that."

Here we go again, corporate America trying to tell us what is good for us.

Longer work hours, less vacation time, what we can eat, who we can socialize with, and now we can't smoke on our own time.

High blood pressure can be caused by watching a football game so that is next.

Next thing they will fire people for being married because that can be harmful to your health.

It's for sure there is nothing unhealthy produced by Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.


This guy should be a professor in Canada (see next story).






Canadian Professors Can Smoke Pot at Work

TORONTO - The use of medical marijuana has given two Toronto professors the right to something that many students could only dream of -- access to specially ventilated rooms where they can indulge in peace.

The two, at the esteemed University of Toronto and at York University to the north of the city, suffer from chronic medical conditions that some doctors say can be eased by smoking marijuana. They are among nearly 1,500 Canadians who have won the right to use the drug for health reasons.

Using human rights legislation, the two petitioned their employers for the right to light up in the workplace. They faced a legal struggle, but the universities eventually agreed.

"Without the medication, I am disabled and I'm not able to carry out meaningful and valuable, productive work," said York University criminology professor Brian MacLean, who suffers from a severe form of degenerative arthritis.

"It helps me to maintain my mobility as a physical problem but it also helps me to keep the pain at a distance so I can focus on my work," MacLean said.

MacLean's three-month battle to persuade York University to provide a light-up room, finally obtained this month, is short in comparison to University of Toronto philosophy professor Doug Hutchinson's year-long struggle.

"It took Professor MacLean a season, three full months, to get a similar accommodation and I believe that in Canada now, we should hope that the next person who gets the accommodation should not take more than a month," Hutchinson said.

MacLean says the three-month response time from the university put him in a vulnerable position both medically and professionally, as he smoked joints on the edge of campus, and thus on the edge of the law.

He now uses a special vaporizer that he says allows him to absorb the medical components of marijuana without the residues that come from smoking a joint.

Health Canada figures show that 1,492 people are authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes in Canada, although it's not clear how the law on using the drug tallies with Ontario provincial legislation that bans smoking in the workplace.

You can't smoke but you can toke! Man that's some good stuff eh?

Students have long advised they are not able to carry out "meaningful and valuable, productive work" without a little weed either.




And that's it for today.

You get less today. Come back tomorrow and you might get a little more!!! More or less.