NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Ivette Ros carries her 9-millimeter handgun almost everywhere, saying it makes her feel safe. Then she brought it to her job at Wells Fargo, where she worked as a branch manager, and it got her fired.

So Ros is suing the bank, saying it violated her constitutional rights and other protections afforded under Florida law. The bank, which bans employees from carrying guns on company premises, replied in a court filing that only the government, not a private employer, can be sued over alleged constitutional violations. The case in Florida is unfolding as part of a bigger debate on how far the rights of gun owners extend into the workplace.

Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, +0.08% bans employees from bringing guns into work except in very limited cases, such as when employees are granted permission by a chief security officer at the bank. Says the bank: “Possessing firearms and weapons on company premises or at company-sponsored events is dangerous to team members and is strictly prohibited.”

Ivette Ros Ivette Ros

Says Ros: “Excuse me for saying so, but I feel like I was screwed.”

Wells Fargo declined to comment on the specifics of Ros’ case. According to Ros, it happened like this: She had been working for about a year as a branch manager in Oldsmar, a suburb of Tampa. Sometimes she’d bring her gun with her, but leave it locked in the glove box of her Dodge Charger. Other times she’d bring it inside the bank, either strapped in a holster or tucked inside her purse.

To Ros, it seemed natural. She has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Her father, a hunter, taught her how to shoot when she was a child. Ros said she’s never drawn a gun on anyone but likes knowing it’s an option — particularly in a bank, which could be vulnerable to robbery.

“I don’t want to be made out to be some tomb raider,” said Ros, 37 and a single mom of three. “I am a woman who would like to have an opportunity to protect herself.”

She added: “I am a single mom, I’m fairly attractive, sometimes I get unwanted advances. I just want to know that if I was ever up against any man — this isn’t about going out blazing, this is about being able to defend myself if I ever have to.”

Things started to unravel around July. Wells Fargo’s corporate security received a complaint that Ros was bringing a gun to work. So corporate security came to her branch and asked her if she had a gun in her car and if she’d ever brought it inside the building. She said yes. The following week, she was fired.

Ros said she never displayed the gun at work and isn’t sure how the bank knew about it – though she had told her boss that she had a concealed-weapons permit, she said.

“They overreacted,” said Ros’ lawyer, Noel Flasterstein. “Because they’re probably anti-gun. Who knows?”

Ross’s gun Ivette Ros

If the case proceeds, it will set up a divisive debate on the intent of Florida law, where the legal system is concerned both with keeping workplaces safe and with not stepping too far into the governance of private employers.

The Florida constitution does encapsulate the right to bear arms “under the lawful authority of the state.” But Wells Fargo said in a court filing that it can’t be sued for violating constitutional rights because it’s not a government entity. Besides, Florida is a right-to-work state, which means companies have a great deal of leeway to fire workers for pretty much any reason — though Flasterstein argues that those rights don’t extend to firing someone for exercising their constitutional rights.

Ros declined to say whether she had read the employee manual, though a filing related to her unemployment claim says she didn’t. She points out that when she took a class to get her concealed-weapons permit, the instructors said that a bank is one of the places where lawful gun owners can bring their guns —unlike, say, a school or courthouse.

“I thought, ‘Cool, I’m a manager of a bank,’” Ros said. “I never thought I was breaking any violation.”

After getting fired, Ros was out of work for about two and a half months. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity denied her claim for unemployment benefits, finding that she had consciously violated the bank’s standards.

Ros is suing for at least $15,000, plus attorney costs.

Donald Jones, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Miami, said Ros would have a stronger and more straightforward case if she had left her gun in her car. Florida law says companies can’t stop employees and customers from keeping guns locked in their cars in the company parking lot.

Some 21 other states have similar laws on the books, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control advocacy group, and Wells Fargo says it recognizes that employees in those states can keep their firearms in their vehicles, even in employer parking lots.

Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at the State University of New York-Cortland, said that courts have tended toward the side of gun regulation since the landmark D.C. v. Heller case in 2008. That was when the Supreme Court justices struck down parts of D.C.’s strict gun-control laws, and said the Second Amendment extends to people owning guns for personal self-defense.

But the justices also “went to great lengths to put limitations on this right and to say that most existing gun laws would be constitutional,” said Spitzer, who wrote “The Politics of Gun Control” and other books on gun policy.

A hearing is set for next month in Tampa.

Christina Rexrode covers banking for MarketWatch. Follow her on Twitter @chris_rexrode.

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