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You may recall that South Africa’s Constitutional Court decriminalised cannabis for personal and private use.

Exactly what constitutes ‘personal and private’ is very much up in the air. Surely, though, smoking at home after work hours shouldn’t be something that you can be fired for?

Bernadette Enever can tell you firsthand that it is. She was fired from Barloworld Equipment in April 2020 for using medicinal and recreational cannabis after work.

Enever is fighting back and IOL reports that the matter of cannabis versus labour laws will soon come under legal scrutiny in the Labour Court:

The company had fired her, and the Labour Court agreed that the dismissal was fair. But Enever is not giving up, and she successfully applied for leave to appeal against the Labour Court ruling.

Enever did not use cannabis at work but in her own time at home. However, the substance was still in her blood when her employer conducted a drug test on her.

Acting Judge Mokosho Ntsoane, in granting her leave to appeal, said her case warranted a revisit and it’s reasonable to believe a different court may reach a different conclusion.

Enever admits that she was aware the company had a zero-tolerance policy for the use of drugs. However, she says her role – a category analyst sitting at a desk – wasn’t safety-sensitive:

She said she needed to use cannabis for medical reasons as well as for relaxation. In the past, she used prescription medication, but following the Constitutional Court case, which decriminalised the use of cannabis, especially in private spaces, she gradually moved away from consuming pharmaceutical pills.

While she explained that she did not consume cannabis at work, her employer was adamant that she tested positive for drugs. Because they gave her a chance to “clean up”, and she did not, she had to face a disciplinary hearing and subsequent axing.

You can get hammered all weekend without consequence (as long as you don’t have alcohol in your bloodstream come Monday), but don’t you dare spark a joint on Friday night after a long week at work.

Cool, makes sense.

Fields of Green for ALL, an organisation pushing for cannabis law reform in South Africa, celebrated the decision earlier this week:

The organisation hits the nail on the head here:

It is of the opinion that when it comes to cannabis in the workplace, it must be borne in mind that although cannabis will remain in a person’s body for several weeks, the cognitive effects last only a few hours at most.

Legal eagles at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr have previously pointed out that despite the decriminalisation of cannabis for private use, employees can still be dismissed if that use contravenes an employer’s binding rules in the form of an alcohol and substance abuse policy.

Please, South African businesses, get with the times. Nobody is saying a person who operates dangerous machinery should be able to get high as a kite on the job, but what happens outside of work hours without jeopardising anyone’s safety should be left well alone.

[source:iol]