LEWISTON - A state investigator says a worker at a Poland farm owned by Austin "Jack" DeCoster has reasonable grounds for claiming he was fired and lost his home because he is an atheist.

Cacy Cantwell, who was hired as a manager at the farm in 2003, says DeCoster told him shortly before he was fired that they would have to "part ways" because the manager didn't believe in God and DeCoster was a Christian.

Three years after he was hired by Maine Contract Farming L.L.C., Cantwell told the Maine Human Rights Commission that he was fired and denied housing because of his belief. The state agency's investigator, Barbara Lelli, agreed. The case is expected to go before the Human Rights Commission, said Patricia Ryan, executive director.

Cantwell also claimed he was fired because he was a whistle-blower. Lelli disagreed with that claim.

When he was hired, Cantwell was given housing owned by Turner Realty LLC. Cantwell lived there with a non-married partner, two of his children and three of her children.

Three years later, in November 2006, Cantwell was fired and told to vacate his apartment. A consultant to DeCoster and a supervisor to Cantwell told him he was let go because of his poor job performance.

Cantwell met DeCoster in August 2006, three months before he was fired. They toured the farm and strolled into one of the barns. At that point, when the two men were alone, Cantwell later told Lelli, DeCoster said to him: "If you do good by me, God will do good by you."

Cantwell said he responded to DeCoster's remark by saying he was an atheist and didn't believe in God. DeCoster put his hand on Cantwell's shoulder and told him: "I can't have someone like you here. We might need to part ways," Cantwell recalled in an interview with Lelli.

DeCoster then berated Cantwell for having used the Internet on which he had met a woman, Cantwell recalled. DeCoster had called it "blasphemy," Cantwell said.

About a month later, while touring one of the barns, DeCoster criticized Cantwell for living in one of his homes with a woman to whom Cantwell wasn't married, Cantwell said. DeCoster said the living arrangement was a sin in his - and God's - eyes. After reminding DeCoster he was an atheist, Cantwell said the owner told him: "You're living in my house, you'll do as I say." He also told Cantwell: "We'll part ways if you don't change."

A consultant to DeCoster confirmed that the owner doesn't approve of people who aren't married, Lelli said.

Shortly before he was fired, one of Cantwell's supervisors noticed a poster in a garage that housed a lawnmower. Cantwell had hung a poster that was an ad for an energy drink depicting a woman in a bikini. The supervisor told Cantwell to take down the poster. "You know Mr. DeCoster is a Christian and is not going to like that." Cantwell said he responded: "Don't Christians like breasts?"

On Nov. 17, 2006, the same supervisor came to the farm and fired Cantwell. The man said something like, "You know, Mr. DeCoster is a Christian man and he can't have someone like you working for him," Cantwell told Lelli.

The supervisor denied having made that statement, Lelli said. He told Cantwell he was fired for "poor job performance." The supervisor said he consulted with another supervisor and DeCoster before making the decision to fire Cantwell.

Cantwell had received no written warnings or suspensions before he was fired, the investigator said. The supervisor said other farm managers had been fired without written warnings.

Cantwell's complaint also was filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Lelli said DeCoster was given a chance to respond to the human rights complaint, but failed to in a timely fashion.

Over the past decade, DeCoster has been involved in legal cases dealing with environmental and labor law violations at farms in Maine and elsewhere.