Panel says Bangor restaurateur sexually harassed employee

AUGUSTA – The owner of a downtown Bangor restaurant has been found to have subjected a former employee to unlawful sexual harassment.

The Maine Human Rights Commission on Monday said in a 4-0 vote there were reasonable grounds to believe that Chris Geaghan, owner of Broad Street Buddies, doing business as Whig & Courier Pub, subjected employee Sherry L. Eames to “unlawful sexual harassment and constructive discharge.”

The restaurant has 18 employees and is subject to the Maine Human Rights Act, a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and state and federal employment regulations.

Eames worked for Whig & Courier Pub as a server for about eight years from 1997 to late 2001 and from late 2002 to Dec. 30, 2005.

The alleged discrimination took place from the fall of 2005 to Dec. 30, 2005. Eames told the commission that to avoid Geaghan’s advances, she was forced to quit her job around New Year’s Day 2006.

Eames filed her complaint with the commission June 5, 2006. Eames complained that Geaghan began directing offensive comments at her, and his attitude toward her worsened in the fall of 2005, when he began to touch her bare skin and told her he was having difficulties with his marriage.

Because of Geaghan’s alleged displays of anger, her complaint says, she did not tell him she was offended by his actions and tried to avoid him by changing the subject.

On or about Dec. 20, 2005, the Whig & Courier threw a Christmas party at the home of one of the managers, according to the complaint. While Eames was there, she tried to pass Geaghan in a doorway. He grabbed her, kissed her on the lips and put his tongue in her mouth, she said.

Eames said in her complaint that she pulled away and tried to stay away from Geaghan until she could leave. She said she was upset and left the party as soon as her ride could leave.

Geaghan told the commission that the party was not a Whig & Courier Christmas party, but one given at the home of one of his managers and his wife. Eames and Geaghan had been drinking alcoholic beverages, he said, and had been outside the house smoking. On their way back into the house, he said he gave her a kiss in the spirit of the holidays. He does not believe he put his tongue in her mouth.

According to the complaint, the next day Geaghan called Eames at 8 a.m. to ask her whether she was OK. She told him she was fine, but she gave him two weeks’ notice that she was quitting.

When he asked her why she was quitting, she said she could no longer work for him. She testified that she felt Geaghan did not respect any boundaries with her and that he would not respect her boundaries in the future.

He then began writing her notes, including a poem, and said something about being in love, Eames said in her complaint.

Geaghan said he gave Eames lyrics to a song that he thought might be helpful to her. He denied being in love with her, although he said he did send her a note of friendship.

After she gave her notice, Eames said, Geaghan would follow her around the workplace and try to talk with her. She said she tried to avoid him because she did not want to make him angry.

Geaghan’s continued attempts to get in touch with her caused her a great deal of stress, Eames told the commission. When she called the Bangor Police Department for advice at the beginning of January, officers advised her to make clear to Geaghan that she did not want him to contact her.

Geaghan’s attorney, Brett Bader of Bangor, said Monday the commission’s decision was based on too few interviews with witnesses, and that “a single kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas did not constitute sexual harassment.”

“We were quite disappointed that the commission accepted what we regarded as an incomplete investigation,” Bader said Monday in a prepared statement.

“My client adamantly denies any kind of sexual harassment toward Ms. Eames,” Bader said. “He is looking forward to a full opportunity to interview all the potential witnesses to present his case.”

Edward Gould, attorney for Eames, called the commission’s decision “just one step along the way.”

Eames plans to file a civil suit in Penobscot County Superior Court seeking compensation for lost earnings and emotional distress, Gould said. “The commission’s decision was a preliminary step to going to court.”

He said his client has had a difficult time since leaving her job last year.

The commission also found reasonable grounds for constructive discharge. Eames’ reason for quitting her job was legitimate, said investigators, who looked at Geaghan’s behavior after Eames gave her notice, and said he had shown no remorse or had not offered to change his behavior toward her.

In other action, the commission found by consent, with no parties disagreeing, that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Harbor Management Corp., its property manager, Kelly Ballinger, and Plaza Associates at Congress Square, a federally subsidized housing complex at 10 Congress Square, Portland, discriminated against complainant Jane Footer on the basis of her disability by denying her a reasonable accommodation and evicting her.