Last month, a federal court in Connecticut ruled that refusing to hire a medical marijuana user after they tested positive during a pre-employment drug screening is a violation of the state’s medical marijuana law.

This is the first ruling of its kind in a federal case, following other similar recent rulings in state courts (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) that have been in favor of protecting marijuana users. Previous rulings, such as those in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, have sided against medical cannabis users in employment cases.

In this latest case, Noffsinger v. SSC NIANTIC OPERATING COMPANY, LLC, Katelin Noffsinger had been offered and accepted a job as a recreation therapy director at a nursing home, contingent on her passing a drug test. After the drug test came back positive for THC, the nursing home rescinded the job offer, worried that hiring her would cause them to lose their funding as a federal contractor.

The nursing home was following federal law that still states marijuana use is illegal, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes. However, the Connecticut Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA) gives a private right of action to aggrieved medical marijuana patients in Connecticut.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer said that the federal Drug Free Workplace Act does not prohibit federal contractors from employing people who use medical marijuana outside the workplace in accordance with state law.

This case is a good reminder for employers to not only refer to federal laws regarding marijuana, but to also look at state law prior to making any employment decisions or drafting employment policies. Laws concerning marijuana have been changing consistently over the past few years so it’s more important than ever to stay up-to-date with your state’s specific laws.

The post New Federal Court Ruling On Medical Marijuana Use Favors Employees appeared first on Blueline.

We searched through todayatwork.com to find some crazy and funny firing stories. Please enjoy them and we hope they make you feel slightly better about your own job (if they don’t, let’s maybe consider going job hunting). As always, we’d love to hear some of your own stories to feature on our site so please leave them in the comments below!

Fired Over a Screensaver

Today I was threatened with being fired for not having a screensaver running on my computer!

I have tried numerous times to run a screensaver but for some reason they don’t stay running while I’m away. I even had an app running that tries to blacks out the screen, but when the room is dark the screen didn’t look 100% black. It was dark with a bit of a glow still.

Anyway because it wasn’t a screen “saver”, my boss thinks the screen will be damaged and it may get an image burned into it. Even though there was no image displaying! Just a gray glow.

And this he decided was a good enough reason to threaten my job!

I argued that there would be even more light with a screen saver and that the fear of “burn-in” is from the old CRT screen days so it’s not even applicable to modern computers. I’m using an iMac with an integrated display!

We settled on me shutting down the computer every time I leave it, but I still can’t believe I almost got fired for my computer not being able to run a screensaver!

Sidework

I have worked in restaurants for a very long time and it is always amusing to tease the new people.

I would train them to do the dumbest things like empty the hot water from our coffee machine that was connected to the tap. Then watch them hopelessly pour out pitcher after pitcher of hot water.

Or I’d tell them to go outside and into the cellar to get more napkins and laugh hysterically while they wandered around the building looking for the cellar door.

The best though was this sweet girl named Jess who I made rewind the fans at the end of her shift with a broom stick. I told her each fan had be rewound 57 times before we closed so that they would work the next day.

Unfortunately I was fired for making her do this. I didn’t know she was the manager’s niece!

Do you have any crazy firing stories?? If so, leave a comment below!

The post Fired over a SCREENSAVER?? appeared first on Blueline.

Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself:

1) Check Your Accounts: A former Wells Fargo manager, Maged Nashid, recently said in an interview to look for suspicious withdrawals ranging from $25 to $100. AKA the amount needed to open a Wells Fargo checking or savings account.

Clients often barely notice these small charges or don’t want to go through the hassle of filling out forms to get their money back. But these small charges could mean a lot more than simply $25 lost.

2) Ask for a Social Security Inquiry from your Bank: Banks can run a check through their systems based on your name or social security information to help you locate any accounts with your information.

3) Be Wary of Questionable Mail: Mike Feuer, a Los Angeles City Attorney who has filed a civil complaint against Wells Fargo, also opened up in interviews about his thoughts concerning this scam.

He said people should be cautious about credit or debit cards arriving to their home for accounts they have not opened. Any suspicious mail from your bank should be looked into. Don’t just toss it aside!

4) Set Up ACH Filters or Positive Pay: ACH or electronic fund transfers are a common method used by scammers to steal money from bank accounts. Often all that is needed to steal funds in this manner is an account and bank routing number.

However, you can set up ACH protections. These can require such transfers to be pre-authorized or reviewed before being completed and will help protect you. Talk to your bank about setting up these filters and protections.

What’s happening with Wells Fargo now?

Along with firing 5,300 employees who were involved in the scandal, Wells Fargo has made it known that they are trying to switch from a focus on sales quotas to good customer service in order to help rectify this problem. The bank announced that they are going to stop their sales goals altogether beginning January 1st.

L.A. attorney, Feuer, stated that Wells has a long way to go to help fix this problem.

“Clearly the necessity to fire 5,300 employees shows that there is something that needs to change with Wells internal oversight and with its practices generally,” Feuer said in an interview.

Wells Fargo wasn’t just dealing with one #EmployeeFromHell but a whole lot of problems going on inside.

The post Wells Fargo Scam: How To Protect Yourself From Fraud appeared first on Blueline.