Rights panel finds grounds for discrimination in cases

By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com

Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Reasonable grounds exist to believe two women were victims of unlawful job discrimination when they were fired from separate companies, a human rights panel ruled Monday.

Jody A. Leathers, of Winslow, said Northeast Laboratory Services ordered her to transfer jobs and then terminated her rather than talking with her about accommodating a disability.

The Maine Human Rights Commission voted 5-0 to conclude that Northeast Laboratory Services, an environmental testing lab with offices in Winslow, "did not engage in the interactive process with the complainant, Jody A. Leathers, and subjected her to a job transfer and finally terminated her because of her physical and mental disabilities."

Commission findings are not law but may become grounds for lawsuits.

The finding upheld a recommendation of commission investigator Domini Pham.

Leathers had worked at the lab -- most recently as a media production technician -- for 14 years prior to her termination on June 18, 2009.

Julia Pitney, who represented Leathers at the hearing, said Leathers was described in evaluations as "hard-working and always willing to help." Pitney also said Leathers had been accommodated previously for repetitive strain injury.

She said Leathers' termination followed her raising of a quality concern, and a subsequent offer by the company to transfer to two jobs that might leave her at risk of reinjury.

"She was told she would work as others do," Pitney said.

The company, represented by Bryan Ward, denied it wrongfully terminated Leathers.

"This is the story of an unhappy employee ... who chose to leave Northeast Laboratory voluntarily," Ward said.

Ward said Leathers repeatedly refused to follow protocol for a Johnson & Johnson project and called the supervisor names.

Ward said Leathers was offered a transfer, but instead wanted to supervise the media production department "to straighten things out."

He said she was fired for "an inability to follow direction, insubordination and the fact she placed the Johnson & Johnson project at risk.

"The bottom line is, had Ms. Leathers not been insubordinate, had she been able to follow directions, had she not put the project at risk, she would be employed by Northeast Laboratory today."

He said the company was unaware she suffered from a mental disability.

In another local case, Maureen LeClair, of Albion, prevailed in her claim that OneSteel Recycling of Oakland discriminated against her because of her age and sex when she was fired on May 23, 2010, at age 58.

LeClair had worked for OneSteel for a year as yard manager and had held a similar job for a decade while the yard was owned by two other companies.

OneSteel claimed LeClair was terminated because of organizational restructuring.

Charles Einsiedler, representing OneSteel, said the company eliminated the yard manager's job and distributed the duties among others.

"There's no evidence of pretext or discrimination," Einsiedler said.

Einsiedler said none of OneSteel operations in Maine -- at Augusta, Aroostook, Bangor, Caribou and Oakland -- has a yard manager.

LeClair told commissioners she was kept out of the loop as changes were made at the company, and agreed that she and a recently hired salesman did not get along.

"I'm not thin-skinned by any means," LeClair told commissioners. "What they did to me was completely just plain wrong."

George Dyer, a legal intern who investigated the case for the commission, recommended a finding for LeClair, saying the discrimination was "flagrant in my opinion. Only four percent of the employees were female and 20 percent of the terminations were females. It was a way of getting rid of an employee who's not fitting in in a yard."

The commission voted 4-1 to find in favor of LeClair.

The dissenting vote came from Deborah Whitworth, one of two new members of the commission. The other new member on the board is Arnold Clark.

Once there is a reasonable grounds finding, the commission attempts to get the parties to settle their dispute through conciliation. If not settled, a dispute usually ends up in a lawsuit.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com


(2011-11-1/kjonline.com)