"Health & Medical News"

An integral part of some state and local health system reform efforts has hit a major stumbling block. The business community has taken employer mandates to court.

These state and local laws require businesses to spend a certain amount on workers’ health care coverage or put that money into a fund to provide access for the uninsured. U.S. courts in Maryland, New York and California have sided with the business community and ruled that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act trumps these efforts.

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Medical-marijuana users can be fired for violating workplace drug policies in California, despite the fact that use of the drug is legal for medical purposes under state law, the California Supreme Court has ruled.

The Associated Press reported Jan. 24 that the court upheld the firing of medical-marijuana user Gary Ross, who failed a company-ordered drug test. Ross said the fact that he was an authorized medical-marijuana user should have protected him from being fired, but the employer said that the firing was justified because marijuana is illegal under federal law.

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A British study finds that 40 percent of employers believe that employee drinking is a major cause of absenteeism and poor productivity, and one-third feel the same is true of illicit drugs, the BBC reported Sept. 16.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) study found that 22 percent of employers test workers for alcohol and other drugs, while 9 percent plan to do so. About one-third of companies surveyed reported firing workers with alcohol problems over the past two years, and more than one in four said they would report workers with drug problems to police.

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