BANGOR – A recipient of the Maine Army National Guard’s soldier of the year award has filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that MBNA denied him a promotion because of his potential deployment as a guardsman.

Joey Ouellette, 28, of Portland alleges in the lawsuit that the credit card giant violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act when he applied for a position as a job coach.

Ouellette is seeking a jury trial, compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees, according to the complaint filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

As of Wednesday, MBNA has not filed a response to the lawsuit. The Maryland-based firm has 20 days to reply to the lawsuit after it is served with the complaint.

Ouellette took a job in January 2000 as a telemarketer for MBNA in Fort Kent while a student at the University of Maine Fort Kent, according to court documents. He graduated in 2002 from the university with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

In November 2003, he applied for a job coach position at the company’s Orono branch. When Ouellette spoke to his supervisor about setting up a phone interview for the job, his boss told him to come into the office and close the door.

According to court documents, Ouellette’s supervisor asked “what would happen if [he] were hired and had to deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq within two weeks.”

After Ouellette left the office, his supervisor told him that a phone interview was set up for the following day. However, Ouellette withdrew his name from consideration the next day because he felt he would not get the job because he was a guardsman.

A few days later, Ouellette learned from his Guard unit that it was illegal for MBNA to take into consideration his affiliation with the military when considering him for a job. His boss rescheduled an interview, but Ouellette was not granted a second interview for the job.

Ouellette, who now works for UnumProvident in Portland, filed the lawsuit because he had a very strong performance record with MBNA and believes that the company discriminated against him and broke the law when it denied him the job in Orono, according to Ouellette’s attorney Guy Loranger of Saco.