Keith Fons, the Portland man who worked as many as 80 hours a week at Subway restaurants to support his family, has a new job and a pending labor complaint.

Fons, 35, had his hours cut in half after telling his story to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Now he's been hired by Attis Trading Company, a marijuana company opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Southwest Portland in 2016. He starts training next week, he said Thursday, and will work his last Subway shift in early January.

"It's a relief," Fons said of the new job, which starts at $15 an hour and comes with a benefits package and a 40-hour workweek, enabling him to spend more time with his fiancee and three young children. "A big relief. I can breathe."

Eli Bilton, Attis' CEO, said he and his wife read Fons' story on Thanksgiving and contacted him through Facebook to set up an interview. Bilton needed employees for a dispensary opening at 7737 S.W. Barbur Blvd., his fifth in the state.

"We thought, 'This guy is a perfect fit for our company,'" said Bilton, who has two young children.

Bilton said Fons will work either at the front desk or as a budtender, but he's also being considered for a management position that pays up to $17 an hour. Bilton said Fons has more than a decade of customer service and management experience and is "very personable."

Fons filed a complaint Dec. 4 with the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries, alleging that his Subway boss may owe him overtime pay. Charlie Burr, a spokesman for the bureau, confirmed that the agency is investigating. Fons also hired an attorney.

And because of the generosity of some 200 strangers, Fons said, he has savings for the first time in his life.

"It's just going to sit there as an emergency fund," Fons said of the more than $11,000 raised through a GoFundMe account and letters sent to him over the past month.

The Oregonian/OregonLive wrote in early November about how Fons struggled to make ends meet on $11.50 an hour, drawing dozens of emails, phone calls and packages from readers who wanted to help him and his fiancee, Vickie Stockhoff, who has multiple sclerosis.

The story also prompted a reaction from Fons' boss, who gave Fons a check for about $1,500 to cover any overtime pay he was due, then cut Fons' hours. Fons said he was told that working full time, with no overtime pay, at two Subway restaurants owned by the same person put him in a legal gray area.

In his complaint, Fons alleges that "the owner paid me some money and said to keep my mouth shut. So I want a[n] investigation to find out if he was breaking the law or not." Burr, in an email, wrote: "Under Oregon law, employers cannot retaliate against workers for filing wages complaints with our agency."

Fons' boss, Larry Dennis, said Thursday that he wasn't aware of the complaint and doesn't think he did anything wrong or that he owes Fons any overtime pay.

"If I made a mistake somehow," Dennis said, "I'll fix it."

Fons, who spent time in prison nearly a decade ago for nonviolent offenses, was devastated after losing what amounted to about half his wages. His friend Howard Kenyon of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon set up the GoFundMe campaign to help.

Eleven days after he signed a confidentiality agreement and cashed the $1,500 check, Fons talked to The Oregonian/OregonLive about the situation. After that story, Fons received 18 job offers, including the one from the dispensary.

Now he's telling some regular Subway customers about his new job, which he's describing as a pharmaceutical position. He's happy to be in customer service, helping people who are suffering. His fiancee uses medical marijuana to relieve pain associated with her illness.

"You're making people better that are in pain," Fons said. "That's what's got me hyped up for this."

His new savings also revived a long-deferred dream. Fons plans to return to school in 2016 to pursue a computer coding course or enroll in the business management program at Portland Community College.

That, he said, will be "better for me in the long run."

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@cityhallwatch