ELLSWORTH – A Superior Court jury has awarded more than $510,000 to a Seal Harbor woman who claimed that sex discrimination played a role in her 2002 firing as fund-raiser for the Maine Sea Coast Mission.

Ann Schwartz, 45, had worked for the Bar Harbor-based mission from May 2000 until December 2002, when she was fired with less than a day’s notice.

After a three-day trial, the Hancock County Superior Court jury voted 8-1 on Thursday in favor of Schwartz and awarded her $510,654 in damages.

“I think it could be a wake-up call to women who are accepting of sexism in the workplace because they think they have to endure it to keep their jobs,” Schwartz said after the trial. “A definite benefit is the message to employers: You shouldn’t fire somebody without having a good reason.”

In October 2003, the Maine Human Rights Commission had found reasonable grounds for Schwartz’s claims. A commission investigator noted at the time that the commission sent three letters about Schwartz’s allegations to the mission, but never received a reply.

The society is a nonprofit that provides Christian outreach to Maine’s island residents. It is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Schwartz had said that she suffered sex discrimination while working for her supervisor, the Rev. Gary DeLong, the mission’s executive director.

In her initial complaint, Schwartz said she was hired as the mission’s director of development, but “throughout the course of my employment, I was treated differently than similarly situated male employees.”

“Women were excluded from the decision-making process by male committee members, who would wait for the women to leave the committee meetings and then make decisions privately,” she wrote in her complaint.

On the first day of the Superior Court trial, Schwartz described a Sept. 5, 2002, meeting in which, she said, DeLong spoke to her in a way she found to be inappropriate.

“Gary said that I was being insubordinate and that I should shut up and do what I was told and that no woman has ever spoken to him that way before,” Schwartz testified. “I was stunned.”

She contended that DeLong tapped her on the arm with a ruler on occasion, even after she asked that he stop. “I never saw Gary do this to a male employee,” she said.

Fred Hutchinson, president of the board of the Maine Sea Coast Mission, responded Friday to the verdict.

“While we are disappointed in the decision reached in the proceedings, we continue to believe strongly that the Maine Sea Coast Mission did nothing improper in the treatment of Mrs. Schwartz,” Hutchinson said. “We will therefore be considering the decision to appeal this decision.”

When asked about DeLong, Hutchinson said that the mission will stand behind him.

“He is our director,” he said. “We’re fully supportive of him.”

DeLong’s attorney, Kevin Cuddy of Bangor, expressed surprise at the verdict after the trial’s conclusion.

“On behalf of the Maine Sea Coast Mission, we were surprised by the outcome and we are contemplating our appeal options,” Cuddy said Friday.

Schwartz’s attorney, A.J. Greif of Bangor, said he was satisfied with the decision.

“I feel that the jury spoke truth to Gary DeLong and the mission, and whether Gary DeLong can recognize the truth, I would hope the mission could,” Greif said. “I’m just happy for my client. She won the case because the jury believed her absolutely.”