COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2013 COA 62
Court of Appeals Nos. 12CA0595 & 12CA1704 Arapahoe County District Court No. 11CV1464Honorable Elizabeth B. Volz, Judge ________________________________________________________________________ Brandon Coats,
Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

Dish Network, L.L.C.,Defendant-Appellee.

¶ 1 The primary question before us is whether federally prohibited but state-licensed medical marijuana use is “lawful activity” under section 24-34-402.5, C.R.S. 2012, Colorado’s Lawful Activities Statute. If it is, employers in Colorado would be effectively prohibited from discharging an employee for off-the-job use of medical marijuana, regardless that such use was in violation of federal law. We conclude, on reasoning different from the trial court’s analysis, that such use is not “lawful activity.”

People who test positive for smoking pot can legally be fired from their job, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled. So while recreational and medical marijuana is legal in Colorado, there is no employment protection for marijuana users. A divided appeals court upheld the firing of a man for off-the-job medical-marijuana use. The court reasoned that, because marijuana is illegal under federal law, employees have no protection to use it. Brandon Coats is a quadriplegic medical-marijuana patient who was fired from his job as a telephone operator at Dish Network after testing positive for marijuana. The case is the first to look at whether off-duty marijuana use that is legal under state law is protected by Colorado's Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute, according to The Denver Post. The statute says employers can't fire employees for doing legal things off-the-clock.