Weed May Be Legal But You Can Be Fired For Using Weed. The representatives of the company are obliged to agree to the random drug testing because they operate with heavy machines.
Smoking weed in the privacy of your own home is awesome because it was approved in South Africa right? Well, there’s that disadvantage of some jobs that have regulations against the use of weed. According to News24, three former representatives of the United National Transport Union have been relieved from their positions because of they tested positive for weed.
The company had to follow the zero-tolerance rule to narcotics that they put in place even though the private use of weed was legalised. The United national Transport Union says, “This means irrespective of the fact that the Constitutional Court ruled that you are entitled to smoke cannabis in the privacy of your own home, you cannot expect your employer to deviate from implementing the zero-tolerance rule.”
The representatives of the company are obliged to agree to the random drug testing because they operate with heavy machines. A lot of the representatives are employed by Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, which do not tolerate both alcohol and weed. The representatives argued that they smoked the weed in the privacy of their own residences.
The Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration commissioner, Charles Oaks, discovered that the contract states that the companies do not tolerate the use of drugs. The commissioner also discovered that the companies stated that the workers are obliged to be tested randomly, to which the representatives agreed to when they started their employment.
Charles Oaks says, “Yes, you can smoke cannabis at home or use it for medical purposes, but if the employer wants to test you at any stage, and you test positive, you can be dismissed.” Other jobs that do random drug tests are drilling jobs, maintenance jobs, medical jobs and finance jobs. The private use of weed in South Africa was legalised by the Constitutional Court on the 18th of September.
by Alexandra Ramaite
