BTW, anyone can be fired for being drunk or drug-impaired on the job. Regardless of whether they’re addicts or not.
You just can’t fire someone because they’re an addict/alcoholic. You have to fire them for work rule violations. Just like anybody else.
When I worked at a call center, we had a guy that was found passed out in the bathroom with a needle in his arm. He went on a bathroom break for about an hour before anyone noticed he was gone. They eventually broke down the door, found him there and called the cops. Denied claims of drug use the whole way out, but we were pretty sure that it was not insulin he was injecting.
There were days working there that I wished I had some of what he had; doing surveys on IBS is not the way to spend 10 hours a day.
I’ve always wondered what is going through people’s minds when they show up somewhere impaired. After a few drinks or whatever, I’ve never felt compelled to go around in public. In high school there were kids who came back stoned after lunch and just sat there, blank. They could easily cover a truancy and they certainly weren’t learning anything, never mind the probability of embarrassment by drooling or vomiting on yourself in class. The punishment for being caught at school stoned was pretty bad, too. It seemed to me they ought to wait till after school or just not come back and enjoy whatever they were doing. Do they think no one will notice or are they so messed up they’re not thinking at all?
Thanks for the clarifications folks. 
I think with these two the reason is that they reeeeeeeeally need the money (duh), and it has since been brought to my attention that this was not the first time they had rocked up to work shitfaced. When they eventually came to work on Friday, they were pretty fucked too…but I was not the official supervisor on that day and had little to do with them, so I didn’t much feel like playing the tattletale role. They were seriously pushing their luck though. :rolleyes:
It’s a good thing that they are working, and if this work keeps them from doing ‘street work’ to keep their habits going, I’d rather say nothing further to the boss.
But if they arrive ON MY SHIFT snivelling and scratching and slurring their words like they did last Sunday, I will send them home again.
In regards to MJ use, are you sure about that?
In employment-at-will states someone can be fired for any reason except those that fall into certain protected classes of discrimination such as race, sex, age, disability, etc. Does addiction qualify as a disability for these purposes anywhere in the US?
I’m not an expert in the field, but I have had some exposure to the rules. So take what I say with a grain of salt. But many at-will states have treated addiction as if it were a protected class. Which means that they try to avoid saying things like “you’re fired because I hear you were attending AA”.
However, I’m not sure it’s been fully tested in courts as to whether chemical dependency is a protected class.
Even if it is, an addict can be fired for being impaired on the job. In my experience.