Rights panel finds firing of store manager wrong

AUGUSTA – The Maine Human Rights Commission has ruled that a manager of a Pratt-Abbott dry cleaning store was improperly fired after she stood up for an employee a customer mistook for an Arab-American at the time of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The panel voted 4-1 Monday that Loralee Meserve’s termination from her job at the West Falmouth store violated the Maine Human Rights Act and the Maine Whistleblower Protection Act.

Sarah Hall, Meserve’s attorney, said that on Sept. 11 a customer went into the store and started talking to a clerk about the events of that day.

When the clerk said she didn’t know enough about the facts surrounding the attacks, Hall said, the customer became furious and said the clerk, who has a dark complexion, must be of Middle Eastern ancestry.

Meserve intervened on behalf of the clerk, whose name was not released, and the customer demanded that the clerk be fired. The customer complained at least one other time, Hall said.

The commission’s ruling that Meserve’s dismissal Sept. 19 was improper means she likely will seek restitution either by negotiating a settlement or filing a civil lawsuit.