PORTLAND – A Portland woman is suing Starbucks, claiming the coffee retailer wouldn’t hire her because of her age.

Deborah Boyajian was 53 when she applied multiple times for part-time barista jobs at Starbucks stores in Portland and South Portland, but she said Starbucks never got back in touch.

Over the next five months Starbucks hired 19 other applicants at four stores in Portland and South Portland, with all but one of those people being under 30, according to the complaint.

The civil lawsuit, which was filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, seeks punitive damages against Starbucks. Boyajian also wants a job, saying she has more than 20 years’ experience working in cafes, bakeries and food service positions.

After her unsuccessful attempts to get a job with Starbucks, Boyajian filed a complaint in the summer of 2006 with the Maine Human Rights Commission, a state agency that investigates discrimination cases.

The commission investigator, Michele Dion, found evidence to support a lawsuit. In September, the full commission agreed and notified Boyajian that she had reasonable grounds to pursue the lawsuit.

Sherri Jefferson, a lawyer in Washington state representing Seattle-based Starbucks, disputed the claims, saying Starbucks embraces diversity and employs several people over 40 at its Portland-area stores.

Jefferson said Boyajian wasn’t hired because of her limited availability, adding that Boyajian was rude and belligerent to employees at a store when she repeatedly checked the status of her application.

Boyajian was not hired after a subsequent job fair because she had made an error on an application, causing it to be misfiled, Jefferson said.