A University of Maine scientist who was born in India has filed a discrimination lawsuit, claiming he was denied promotions and salary increases because of his race, country of origin and gender.

Filed at U.S. District Court in Bangor against the University of Maine System, the lawsuit alleges that since the early 1990s, Dilip Lakshman has been continually denied promotions to positions for which he was qualified and has been paid at a lower salary than “comparable Caucasian scientists.”

Lakshman, who has worked in UM’s biological sciences department for 16 years, is described in the lawsuit filed by his attorney, Judith Thornton, as belonging to the Asian race, having dark skin and speaking with an Indian accent. The plant pathology researcher, who does no classroom teaching, alleges that co-workers created a “racially/ethnically offensive and intimidating work environment” and that he repeatedly has seen female scientists “treated more favorably” in terms of promotions.

Although he recently was promoted to the position of senior scientist from associate scientist after the Maine Education Association filed a grievance, Lakshman “still has not been given the responsibility appropriate to his education and experience, nor has he been given a raise consistent with the salaries of comparable Caucasian scientists,” according to the lawsuit. He makes $45,000, while some professors in the department make $60,000 or $70,000 or more.

Lakshman filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission last year, but withdrew it when the group hadn’t considered it after six months, Thornton said Thursday.

He is seeking a jury trial, the same salary as “comparable scientists” at the university, and back salary and benefits, she said.

“The university unequivocally did not discriminate against Dr. Lakshman,” said UMS attorney Paul Chaiken, adding that the researcher “would have had a hard time prevailing at the Human Rights Commission.”

With a doctorate from Cornell University in plant pathology, Lakshman did his postdoctoral study at the University of Alberta-Alberta Medical Institute.

Hired as a nontenure track research scientist at UM in 1986, Lakshman was told the university needed to employ and promote more female scientists. He repeatedly has seen female scientists promoted to tenure while he was told he wouldn’t be able to make the same move, according to the lawsuit.

The female head of a search committee told him not to bother applying for a particular position “because she had something else in mind,” the lawsuit said.

The university ultimately hired a female for the position even though Lakshman was similarly qualified, according to Thornton.

Since Lakshman legally is considered a member of a minority group, “it almost looks as though being a Caucasian female trumps being a minority male in terms of protected category,” she said.

After Lakshman raised allegations of discrimination, his superiors “retaliated against him by making disparaging, degrading and intimidating remarks to and about him,” the lawsuit says.

One superior told him that if he continued with legal action against the university, “he would have a very difficult time as long as he worked there,” according to the lawsuit.

Lakshman was told he probably would never teach because “undergraduates don’t like to listen to someone with a foreign accent,” Thornton said.

A trial has been scheduled for November.