Friday, March 12, 2010

Wal-Mart illegally fires medical marijuana patient

Wal-Mart is nearly synonymous with corporate serfdom. And a Wal-Mart in Battle Creek, Michigan, is proving it.

Wal-Mart has fired an employee because he uses medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription. He was fired despite the fact that medical marijuana is legal in Michigan.

This is how Wal-Mart treats a man who was its 2008 Associate of the Year and who suffers from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor? There ought to be a whole new plane of hell for whoever decided to fire him.

The man was fired after he failed a drug screening. This underscores why we need to pass a law against workplace drug tests.

In the meantime, Wal-Mart acts like it can make up its own laws by firing people over legally permitted activity. It doesn't work that way, Wally World. The Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws are designed to protect people from illegal firings like this.

But Wal-Mart remains undeterred in the face of law or common decency. Now the retail giant actually has the nerve to challenge the man's eligibility for unemployment benefits.

Maybe if Wal-Mart didn't want him unemployed, they shouldn't have fired him.

A corporation shouldn't be allowed to challenge the unemployment benefits of a person it fired. It's just common sense: If you choose to fire somebody, you can't expect them not to seek benefits that they're entitled to.

In the meantime, I will continue my long-running boycott of Wal-Mart.

(Source: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=119421&catid=14&GID=5PcX3Lkx9+ImiVk4xhXX+02jKzqErLbsYS4t0MU0XLE%3D)

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