Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 2009
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: David Karp, Vancouver Sun

SMOKING CASUAL JOINT IS NOT A DISABILITY, TRIBUNAL
DETERMINES

A sawmill manager fired for allegedly smoking pot on the job and
offering a joint to a co-worker has had his human rights complaint
tossed out.

David Geldreich, a manager at the Whisper Creek lumberyard in Houston,
filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after he was
fired in April 2008. He argued that Whisper Creek had discriminated
against him because of a mental disability when it decided to fire
him.

"If [Whisper Creek] fired me because of smoking drugs, [it] was
obligated . . . to accommodate me and to offer assistance as a
disability," Geldreich wrote.

However, tribunal chair Heather MacNaughton said that casual drug use
is not a disability. 
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