Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jul 2009
Source: Houston Today (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Houston Today
Contact:  http://www.houston-today.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4080

RECREATIONAL DRUG USE RULED NOT A DISABILITY

A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has thrown out a complaint by a sawmill
supervisor who was accused of smoking pot at work.

The tribunal rejected David Geldreich's, a shift supervisor at Corwood
Whisper Forest Products, complaint that his recreational use of
marijuana was a disability.

Geldreich, who was fired in April 2008 for allegedly smoking marijuana
at the job site, argued that Whisper Creek discriminated against him
because of a mental disability associated with recreational drug use.

Geldreich admits that he had smoked marijuana recreationally, but
never at work, and if he did have a substance abuse issue Corwood
should have worked with him, not fire him as they did. However
tribunal chair Heather MacNaughton ruled that casual drug use is not a
disability.

"Mr. Geldreich is wrong about Whisper Creek's obligation to
accommodate him or offer assistance as a disability," she wrote. "Its
obligation to do so is not triggered by casual drug use against
company policy. It is triggered when an employee is suffering from an
addiction which requires accommodation or treatment."

Geldreich also said the accusations of smoking pot at work were
ungrounded and false, and that he and his crew had a clean safety
record with no injuries for two years.

"They told me that I was unsafe with equipment," Geldreich said. "Yet
I was the one called upon [to operate the machines] when needed."

Geldreich also alleges the drug charge was false and that he was in
fact fired for raising accusations about a fellow co-worker and his
drug use.

The next day he was fired.

Corwood has refused to comment on the case. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr