Biddeford-Saco, Maine Employment Lawyers

Biddeford and Saco are twin cities with split personalities. Both have downtown centers with massive brick mills reminiscent of their industrial past and both have wealthy summer enclaves lining the Atlantic coast. The downtown centers are undergoing revitalization with the mills being repurposed for business and residential use and Biddeford fast becoming the major economic force in York County. Unbeknownst to many, Biddeford was a stop on the "underground railroad" that transported Southern slaves to safety. Today, Biddeford-Saco has a combined population of over 40,000 and draws beachgoers, kayakers, and hikers to the seashore, Saco River, and Ferry Beach State Park. The University of New England's main campus is also located in Biddeford.

Maine Employee Rights Group represents Biddeford-Saco employees in all types of employment discrimination litigation. Examples of cases we have recently handled for Biddeford-Saco employees include:

We represented a 72 year-old maintenance worker whose employer forced him to retire from his job of 18 years. Our client was in good health and had a strong performance record but a new supervisor at the hospital where he worked had decided to "get rid of all the old people." This supervisor asked our client every week when he planned to retire and even went so far as to draft a resignation letter for him and demand that he sign it or else face a negative performance review. We filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Maine Human Rights Commission alleging that this supervisor used "retirement" as a proxy for age and that was discrimination under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Maine Human Rights Act. The case resulted in a monetary settlement to our client without our having to file suit in court. It highlights an important distinction in the law, namely, that an employer's isolated inquiry about an employee's retirement plans, alone, is not evidence of age discrimination, but repeated inquiries and badgering, may be, particularly when it is the decision-maker inquiring and the employee is terminated shortly thereafter.

Our firm represented a female finance manager at a local car dealership who was terminated and replaced with a less qualified male. Our client had worked for the dealership, including under prior ownership, for over twenty years and had received national recognition for her superior work from several different car manufacturers. Despite her tenure and track record, she was subjected to sexist remarks from male coworkers on a regular basis and terminated under the guise of poor performance. We filed suit in federal court alleging violations of Title VII and the Maine Human Rights Act which prohibit employers from making employment decisions on the basis of sex. During discovery, we elicited evidence from dealership managers that the dealership failed to hire and promote women and had a practice of replacing women with less qualified men. We also implicated the owner of the dealership for his direct role in our client's termination. The case settled while the parties were waiting for the court to decide the dealership's motion for summary judgment.

If you have been discriminated against on the basis of age or sex, call Maine Employee Rights Group today, 207.874.0905, for a consultation.