Picture of a machine gun to represent John McClane getting a machine gun in Die Hard — Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

First, let’s get to the most controversial part of this post. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Bruce Willis said Die Hard is not a Christmas movie… it’s a Bruce Willis movie. Unfortunately, Bruce Willis is absolutely wrong.

Someone just made a Die Hard Christmas trailer and it is epic. The movie definitely has holiday themes. There is no denying that. It has Christmas trees, decorations, and a party. It is ultimately about a guy trying to get to be with his family, which is basically what the holidays are all about.

No matter what side you take in this great debate, Die Hard does demonstrate a lot of problems that affect everyone during the holidays. Issues at work, problems with your family, and some slight uncertainty about the future.

With that being said, let’s look at some of the employee issues illustrated by Die Hard.

Working Too Much and Not Being There for Your Family

John McClane works as a cop in New York and his wife works in California. When the limo driver asks John why he didn’t move to California with his wife John responds “Cause I’m a New York cop who used to be a New York kid, and I got six months backlog of New York scumbags I’m still trying to put behind bars. I don’t just get up and move.” John McClane would rather continue working as a cop in New York rather than move to the west coast with his wife. Basically, the movie starts out with one character choosing their job over their spouse.

Balancing work and family is always hard. There are a lot of people that have chosen their careers over their family. Careers, high performing careers or careers where the person’s identity is shaped by their career (lawyer, doctor, etc.), can be all consuming. There is always more work to do. These are the people that can end up like John McClane and choose their career over their family.

And in the end, it is like the great quote from Rabbi Harold Kushne “Nobody on their deathbed has ever said ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.”’ At the end of Die Hard, that is ultimately what the McClanes learn. The McClanes go from the children asking whether their daddy is coming home for Christmas to just being glad to be with each other.

As an employer, what does this mean for you? Ultimately, people have the personal responsibility to manage their lives. However, companies boost morale by providing things like remote-work capabilities, or flexible employee leave to take a sick kid to the doctor is an appreciated perk that allows employees to better prioritize their family as they wish, and especially in times of need prioritize however they wish. However, as an employer, you can provide opportunities to include family.

Employee Drug Use

Another interesting part of the movie is the drug use. John McClane calls out Harry Ellis, one of the big negotiators for the company, for using cocaine at the party. This happens in front of the president of the company. And he does nothing about it.

Unfortunately, many companies ignore employee drug problems and some companies may even consider encouraging drug use to make employees more relaxed, less anxious, and more productive. Of course, Die Hard was made in the 1980’s so there was bound to be some use of cocaine.

With that being said, if there is an employee that has a drug problem, then you should not ignore it. Now I’m not saying that you confront someone when you have some vague suspicion that they are using drugs, but there are some steps that everyone should consider.

All companies need to gather evidence that shows that a person is under the influence of drugs. To do this, a company needs supervisors that are trained to recognize the signs of drug use and impairment. No one will identify drug use if they do not know what to look for. When you have reasonable suspicion that an employee is using drugs, then you need to act quickly especially if that employee is in a safety sensitive position. Follow your policy and conduct a drug test on that person as soon as possible.

In Die Hard the drug use was obvious. The employee was seen snorting cocaine in the office and still has white powder on their nose when he is with the president of the company. This is not a situation where you are piecing together the information to get to reasonable suspicion. It would be equivalent to seeing an employee down a few shots of whiskey at work. And remember, the president of the company did absolutely nothing. That is the opposite of what should happen.

Employees Confronting Robbers

There are times that employees have fought off armed robbers, but no employee needs to do that when they have a gun pointed at them. You can read about employees successfully confronting armed robbers here, here, here, and by running a quick Google search of your own.

Unfortunately, things do not always work out for employees that confront armed robbers. This is why the best advice is often to instruct employees, especially retail employees, to open up the cash register and hand over the money to any would be robber. Just look at what happened to Takagi, the president of Nakatomi Trading. He tells Hans Gruber that Hans will have to kill him, and he will not give Hans the code to the safe. There is no reason that any employee should feel the need to protect a cash register or any amount of money when their life is threatened.

Of course, as we see in Die Hard, that does not work in every situation. The employees in Die Hard only escaped because John McClane fought back. He knew that these people were terrorists and they did not care about taking people’s lives.

Sometimes employees need to be prepared to defend themselves. If your employees work late at night or in a dangerous area, then the company needs to take steps to ensure their safety. Sometimes that may mean that the company gets a better lit parking lot, other times that may mean that it provides some self-defense training to employees, or it could include having an onsite security guard to escort people as necessary. It just depends on the job.

Conclusion

Even if we cannot agree on whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, we can agree that the McClanes learn an important lesson from it. The importance of family.

For those of you going to a party next week I only have one thing to say: Welcome to the party pal. Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating the holiday next week! And if you want a good Christmas movie, I would recommend Die Hard.

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

Are you prepared to deal with an employee that uses marijuana? How would you respond to employees that are high at work? Unfortunately, all employers must be prepared to address the use of marijuana in the workplace. One survey found that 1 out of every 10 workers has gone to work high. In addition, there are approximately 22.2 million American adults that used marijuana in the last month.

Currently the rules governing marijuana vary depending on the state (marijuana is still illegal at the federal level). Recreational marijuana is legal in 9 states and medical marijuana is legal in 30 states. There is no doubt more states will legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical use. More than 61% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. That support is up from just 31% in 2000.

What Do Employers Need to Know about Marijuana?

Here is some information from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a United States government research institute, about the short-term effects of marijuana:

When a person smokes marijuana, THC quickly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream. The blood carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body. The body absorbs THC more slowly when the person eats or drinks it. In that case, they generally feel the effects after 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Marijuana overactivates parts of the brain that contain the highest number of these [brain] receptors. This causes the “high” that people feel. Other effects include: 1) altered senses (for example, seeing brighter colors); 2) altered sense of time; 3) changes in mood; 4) impaired body movement; 5) difficulty with thinking and problem-solving; 6) impaired memory; 7) hallucinations (when taken in high doses); 8) delusions (when taken in high doses); and 9) psychosis (when taken in high doses).

What Employers Must Consider

All employers must be aware of marijuana issues in the workplace. Unless you are Snoop Dog or doing a report for CNN on marijuana, your company needs a plan in place to address employees that use marijuana while they are working. Employers also must address off-duty use of marijuana to the extent that they can.

Here are some steps that many employers have considered to address marijuana use by employees:

Create a drug-free workplace policy that addresses drug use and drug testing. The policy prohibits the use or manufacture of illegal drugs at work. The policy also establishes when employees will be drug tested.

Train your supervisors and managers to recognize the signs of drug impairment. Many sheriff’s departments and local law enforcement agencies will offer the training for free. Your workers’ compensation carrier may also offer the training at no cost to your company.

Be aware of state law requirements especially as they relate to accommodating the off-duty use of marijuana. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that an employer needs to engage in the interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act to determine if there were other possible accommodations for an employee that uses medical marijuana. Connecticut and Rhode Island recognize that a company that refuses to hire someone simply because the applicant is a medical marijuana user violates each state’s marijuana statute. All companies must be prepared for more states to adopt similar legislation and court rulings prohibiting companies from retaliating against employees for their off-duty marijuana use.

Outline the essential job function of each company position to ensure that any employee that must be accommodated for off-duty marijuana use can meet all the requirements of the position.

Do not forget to follow any special federal regulations that apply to any of your employees such as the Department of Transportation regulations for Commercial Drivers.

Conclusion

Marijuana is changing the workforce. As more and more people come to support legalizing marijuana (and more people use it), it will eventually be legalized. Once it is legalized, employers will probably refrain from penalizing people that use it off-duty so long as the person is not impaired or high when they come to work. The one obstacle from making it like off-duty use of alcohol is that there is currently no test that can measure marijuana impairment. Employers must continue to train their supervisors to recognize external signs of impairment until there is a reliable way to test whether someone is high on marijuana. Unfortunately, the issues surrounding marijuana and the workplace will continue to multiply for the foreseeable future.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

Tag: Drugs

Die Hard, Christmas, and Employment Law

Working Too Much and Not Being There for Your Family

Employee Drug Use

Employees Confronting Robbers

Conclusion

Marijuana and Your Workforce

What Do Employers Need to Know about Marijuana?

What Employers Must Consider

Conclusion