The former Human Resources Director for Sunbury Medical Associates, in Bangor, claims that the CEO of the firm told her that she should only hire “young women with big boobs.” Afterwards, the CEO allegedly continued to express this desire and make hiring decisions designed to fulfill it. The former HR Director, Barbara Mann, claims that when she complained that the CEO’s hiring preferences constituted age and sex discrimination, Sunbury fired her in retaliation. An investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has recommended that the MHRC find reasonable grounds to believe that Sunbury fired Mann in retaliation for her complaints.
According to Mann, the CEO said more than once that he liked it when Mann hired women who were “cute and had big boobs.” The CEO also allegedly hired some waitresses to work for the firm. Mann recalls that one of the waitresses wore a low cut sweater that exposed her cleavage on the day that the CEO introduced her to the office. According to Mann, the CEO called her into his office and told her that he did not like her reaction when he introduced the new employee who was wearing the low cut sweater. Mann claims she just told him that the new employee should be required to wear “appropriate business attire.” Later, Mann says she told the CEO that some of the women in the office wore revealing clothes to get his attention and that it made her uncomfortable when he would look at their breasts.
Shortly after Mann complained about the CEO looking at the breasts of the women wearing revealing clothes in the workplace, Sunbury hired an attorney to conduct an investigation. The attorney issued a report in June 2011 which concluded that Mann’s complaints were baseless. Just three months after the attorney issued his report, Sunbury fired Mann who had worked for the firm for 8 years.
It is a violation of federal and state law to fire an employee who opposes what she believes, in good faith, constitutes age or sex discrimination. If this has happened to you, contact an experienced employment lawyer to learn more about your rights.