AUBURN – A Sabattus man who claims that he was harassed by his co-workers at Bath Iron Works has filed a lawsuit against the Navy ship builder.

Robert Bartos claims that his co-workers intentionally played sounds on their computers, such as the sound of screeching brakes, drive-by shootings and farm animal noises, to irritate his mental health problems.

Filed this week in Androscoggin County Superior Court, the lawsuit claims that Bartos suffers from chronic anxiety and depression and that his condition was aggravated by extraneous noises at his workstation.

According to the lawsuit, Bartos has worked at BIW since 1982.

He claims in his suit that his supervisors ignored a letter that the company’s doctor sent them on June 15, 2001, telling them that they should require employees to wear headphones when listening to the radio or a CD because the extra noise bothered Bartos.

“As a result of the distracting and disturbing noise to which he was exposed and his supervisor’s refusal to implement the company doctor’s directive regarding headphones, (Bartos) suffered increased anxiety and emotional distress which caused him to lose time from work,” the lawsuit alleges.

Bartos acknowledges in his suit that the doctor’s letter was withdrawn, but he alleges that his supervisors didn’t notify him of the change and they didn’t offer to discuss any alternatives.

The problem got worse, Bartos claims, when his co-workers started activating sound effects on their computers to intentionally annoy him. He says that he complained to his managers about the noises, but nothing was done.

Bartos filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission last year. The commissioners voted not to back him after an investigator found no reasonable grounds that discrimination existed.

A spokeswoman for BIW could not be reached Thursday. Bartos declined to comment on the suit.

lchmelecki@sunjournal.com