By JOSH FARLEY, jfarley@kitsapsun.com, February 14, 2007 -- A former employee of TeleTech in Central Kitsap filed suit Tuesday against the company, claiming she was fired in late 2006 for her allegedly legal use of medicinal marijuana under state law.

Although the lawsuit seeks monetary damages, a lawyer involved said the plaintiff also wants to establish a legal precedent for employees who are prescribed medicinal marijuana.

Lawyers for the ex-employee, a woman they have dubbed "Jane Roe" because the use of marijuana is illegal in any amount under federal law, say the company subjected her to a drug test in October 2006 upon her hiring. That happened despite her disclosure to TeleTech that she’d been prescribed pot by a physician.

She failed the test and was informed by the company that they’d be "discharging her from employment," said her lawyer, Michael Subit of Frank, Freed, Subit and Thomas of Seattle.

The woman, a Kitsap County resident, worked at a TeleTech call center in Central Kitsap off Highway 303. The corporation’s Web site says it assists businesses in customer management and is based in Englewood, Colo.

"Roe" told her employers her use of pot was "in accordance with the Washington Medical Marijuana Act," Subit’s firm said in a press release. The court filings cite RCW 69.51A.010(5) in the allegations.

"Ms. Roe was upfront with TeleTech about her doctor-authorized, at-home use of medical marijuana," Subit’s firm said in the release. "She was not in a safety-sensitive position and her use of this proven form of medical treatment did not affect her job performance in the slightest."

The woman suffers from a "debilitating illness," not a terminal one, and that was the doctor’s rationale for prescribing medical pot, Subit said.

"Roe" is seeking "economic and compensatory damages" in the amount of $75,000, according to a press release. The lawsuit was filed in Kitsap County Superior Court.

Aside from the monetary damages, Subit said the case "seeks to establish that it is illegal for an employer to fire an employee just because she uses medical marijuana under a doctor’s guidance."

"People are going to have to choose between their jobs and their health," Subit said in a phone interview Tuesday. "And that’s wrong."

Phone calls and e-mails to TeleTech, both locally and to its national offices, were not answered.

The company employs about 40,000 employees and boasts yearly sales of about $1.1 billion, according to its Web site. At about 695 local employees, TeleTech is the fifth largest private employer in Kitsap County, according to the Kitsap County Economic Development Council.