Discrimination claims discounted Rights panel to hear Hancock County cases

AUGUSTA – State investigators have found in favor of five Hancock County businesses charged with discrimination by former employees, including Mount Desert Island Hospital and The Jackson Laboratory, according to state reports.

The Maine Human Rights Commission will take up the cases when it meets on June 23 in Augusta.

The five cases include:

. A charge by Steven Veneziano of Hampden against Town Auto Sales of Ellsworth, alleging that he was fired in October 2001 because he accused another employee of wrongdoing. He further alleged that the owner’s wife retaliated against him for filing the human rights complaint.

The owner, John Partridge Sr., told the state investigator that Veneziano was fired because of “unsatisfactory managerial skills and job performance.” On the second charge, Partridge asserted that neither he nor Town Auto was responsible for any alleged comments by his wife because she was not an owner, officer or employee of the company.

. A charge by Roberta DeRaps of Southwest Harbor against Northeastern Seafood Inc., also of Southwest Harbor, charging that the company fired her because she was a woman.

According to the state investigator’s report, DeRaps’ employment was terminated on her first day, July 31, 2001, after fishermen and other employees noted that she could not lift the totes on the dock or unload the boats without help.

DeRaps was hired after filling out an application and telling a supervisor that she would be able to do the heavy lifting.

Sheryl Harper, who owns the company with her husband, called to tell DeRaps that she was fired. DeRaps claimed that Harper told her “I don’t want a woman on my dock,” but the state investigator ruled against DeRaps after learning that Harper had employed other women in the past, some for years at a time, and that the evidence indicated that DeRaps “was unable to do the duties required by the job.”

. A charge by Elizabeth Richards of Bar Harbor against Sonogee Rehabilitation and Living Center, also in Bar Harbor, alleging that she was discriminated against because she was pregnant and could not get a light-duty assignment at the facility.

The state investigator found credible evidence that the facility’s owner, North Country Associates Inc., implemented a policy in 1996 to give light-duty assignments only to employees who had been injured on the job.

Richards alleged that since she was initially given light-duty work, the policy was new and intended to target her because of her pregnancy. She quit her job on Feb. 18, 2002, after a memo was posted reiterating the 1996 policy, according to the state report.

The state investigator found that the new director of nursing at Sonogee was unaware of the policy and allowed Richards to do duties other than lifting until she learned about the 1996 policy. Further, a 1997 Human Rights case against North Country established the “no light duty” policy, the investigator reported.

. A charge by Andrea Miller of Bar Harbor against Mount Desert Island Hospital, alleging that she was discriminated against because of her age when the hospital hired a younger worker for a receptionist job in April 2002.

The hospital’s business office billing manager testified to the investigator that Miller’s age had nothing to do with the hospital’s not hiring her.

Rather, Miller was not hired because she did not make “a particularly good impression” during the job interview, the hospital did not receive a reference from a former employer in Florida, and Miller was “extremely persistent” during the hiring process. The daughter of a chief receptionist who had worked for the hospital on a per-diem basis was selected for the job, the investigator’s report said.

. A charge by Craig Hobson of Ellsworth against The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, asserting he resigned on April 8, 2002, because of his gender after a supervisor allegedly told him that “men are not capable of multi-tasking.”

Lab officials told the state investigator that there were several concerns about Hobson’s work, including his “lack of productivity,” lost time and tardiness.

According to the state report, lab officials also contended that Hobson’s pursuit of a female co-worker, who was not interested in having a relationship with him, became “so disruptive that some employees were not coming to work because of the extreme tension this attempted relationship caused.”

The state report indicates that Jackson Lab offered Hobson a chance to resign rather than be fired and he accepted. The lab divvied up Hobson’s duties between two male and one female employees, according to the state report.