PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. (WMBD)–A Peoria Heights gas station employee said she was fired Monday after fighting back against Governor Pritzker’s mandatory order to wear masks in public.
The former BP gas station employee does not want her face to be shown but said she posted signs on the window of the gas station on May 7 to protect herself and the store from potential crimes.
Last week BP customers on Prospect were greeted with two signs reading, “NO face masks allowed in the store, lower your mask or go elsewhere… stop listening to Pritzker” and “If you can’t comply with store policy…I suggest you go somewhere else.”
The woman said she posted the signs Thursday. She said she was using her first amendment right to protect herself from people who could use the mask as an opportunity to commit a crime.
“We are a gas station that is 24 hours. People have stolen from us, we’ve been robbed before. It’s only a respectful thing to identify yourself,” she said.
She admits her sign was bold but said she was standing up for her and her coworkers.
“I think that any cashier or any business owner has a right to protect themselves and their business and this mask policy enforcement has to have guidelines. You can’t give me a fine for selling underage if you can’t even see if they are underage. I have to see their face,” she said.
The now-former employee said the signs were up for three days before she was forced by local law enforcement to remove the signs.
She said her boss knew about the signs. The woman claims she was fired only because the message went viral Sunday afternoon and the gas station could have lost its license.
Now jobless, the woman said she would like her job back.WMBD reached out to her manager, but he did not return our phone call.
