Pretoria - The matter of cannabis versus labour laws is due to come under legal scrutiny in the Labour Court yet again.
An employee of Barloworld Equipment, who was fired for using medicinal and recreational cannabis after work, will now appeal the decision.
The company had fired her, and the Labour Court agreed that the dismissal was fair. But Bernadette 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 earlier ruled that Barloworld was correct when it fired Enever. But following her application for leave to appeal, the judge found that another court should perhaps take another look at the issues.
He said Enever had shown reasonable prospects that another court could come to a different conclusion.
“There are legitimate disputes on the law raised, and there are also unusual issues which deserve the attention of the Labour Appeal Court,” the judge said.
Enever was dismissed on April 30, 2020, after working for the company for a number of years as a category analyst in an office or desk position.
While the company had a zero-tolerance policy for the use of drugs and often tested its employees for this, Enever was not about to give up on her use of cannabis after hours.
She maintained that her position did not constitute a safety-sensitive job in that she was neither required to operate heavy machinery nor to drive any of the company’s vehicles.
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.
The judge earlier questioned Enever’s medical defence and said if she used CBD oil for her ailments, why did she then also have to smoke a joint for recreational purposes?
The organisation Fields of Green for All, which is fighting for cannabis law reform in the country, is standing behind Enever in her fight for justice.
It welcomed the fact that she was granted leave to appeal and said this was good news for everyone who used cannabis in South Africa.
“It is a significant development in our quest for evidence-based cannabis policy and cognitive liberty, a pivotal human right within broader drug policy,” the organisation said.
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.
Pretoria News