Rights panel rules against Topsham Home Depot

AUGUSTA – The Home Depot store in Topsham discriminated against a man who had broken his back earlier in life, but The Home Depot in Rockland did not discriminate on the basis of age against two employees of that store, the Maine Human Rights Commission ruled Monday.

The cases were unrelated, but the Atlanta-based company did not mount a defense in any of the cases.

The commission also found for Jessica Riley of Salisbury Cove in her sexual harassment complaint against J.H. Butterfield Co. of Bar Harbor. That decision was made in the panel’s consent agenda, so no oral arguments were made by either side.

In a split decision, commissioners found in favor of Charles Ugro of Milford in his complaint that Morgan Recreational Supply used an illegal employment application form. But commissioners split on his claim that he was discriminated against because he had been injured at a previous job. The split resulted in a tie vote, which meant a “no reasonable grounds” finding was entered.

In the complaint by Patrick Farris, who now lives in Georgia, against The Home Depot store in Topsham, his attorney told the commission a supervisor taunted him over his broken back injury, throwing a pencil on the floor and demanding that he pick it up.

When Farris was in pain from the injury, store officials argued in a written submission to the panel, he grimaced as he helped customers.

One day, when Farris was in particular pain, he was told not to “punch in” at work because his pain was obvious. The panel ruled this action on the part of The Home Depot equated to a “constructive discharge,” which means he was effectively put out of work.

The commission voted that reasonable grounds existed for Farris’ claim.

Complaints that win reasonable grounds rulings from the panel proceed to conciliation. If no settlement is reached, the complainant may proceed to Superior Court, where a financial award may be granted.

Peter Sullivan of South China and Karen Claywell of Friendship also filed claims against The Home Depot for their experiences in the Rockland store. The attorney representing the two, Tracy Adamson, argued that Sullivan’s peers at the store taunted him about his age, and were aware that he was under a program of improvement on the job.

Claywell refused to cooperate with the systematic discrimination, Adamson argued, and suffered on the job because of it.

The Home Depot was not represented at the commission’s meeting.

Commission investigator Brenda Haskell told commissioners that while she believed the Rockland branch of the home improvement chain was “a store that went amok,” no violations of the Maine Human Rights Act could be demonstrated.

The commission found no reasonable grounds on both claims.

The panel also found no reasonable grounds in the following complaints:

. Ashley Rooney of Searsport v. Sprague Energy Corp., Searsport.

. James Law of Presque Isle v. Northern Maine Fair Association, Presque Isle.

. Ernest Watson of Bangor v. Bangor Housing Development Corp., Bangor.

. Wayne Gillis of Fairfield v. Cianbro, Pittsfield.

. Billie Jo Faulkner of Houlton v. Graymoor Manor, Houlton.

. Kenneth Horn of Bangor v. James W. Sewall Co., Old Town.

. David Davis of Milford v. River City Trucking, Old Town.

. Linwood Murray of Bremen v. Lincoln’s Country Store, Warren.

. Kenyetta Day of Bangor v. Bangor Housing Development Corp., Bangor.