First pot customer in Spokane fired for marijuana use
CORRECTS NAME TO BOYER, INSTEAD OF BOYD - Mike Boyer turns to the crowd outside, showing off the 4 grams of marijuana he bought as the first in line to legally purchase marijuana at Spokane Green Leaf, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Spokane, Wash. Twenty months after voters legalized recreational cannabis for adults over 21, Washington state's first few licensed pot shops opened for business Tuesday, catering to hundreds of customers who lined up outside, thrilled to be part of the historic moment. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Dan Pelle)
SPOKANE, Wash. >> A man who waited in line overnight to be the first customer at Spokane’s first legal marijuana shop says he was fired for his efforts.
But the company says his story doesn’t make sense.
Mike Boyer said Wednesday that after significant media coverage of his purchase Tuesday, he received a text message from the Spokane office of temporary staffing firm TrueBlue Labor Ready ordering him to take a drug test within 24 hours. He told The Associated Press he took the test, failed it and was fired.
Stacey Burke, a spokeswoman for Tacoma-based TrueBlue, says company policy prohibits being under the influence on the job. She said there’s no reason he would have been fired for having bought the pot, nor would the purchase have given the company reason to order him to take a drug test.
She says the company is looking into Boyer’s claims, and that if he was fired outside of protocol, he would be reinstated.
