AUBURN – The manager of Denny’s Restaurant broke the law when he made an inappropriate comment to a nursing mother about her breasts, an investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission has concluded.

Stephanie York of Oakland claims she was breast-feeding at the Auburn restaurant on Nov. 21, 2003, when the manager came to her table and asked her if she were “drowning the boy” with her breast.

Then, she said, he turned to another employee while walking away and said, “Every man needs a good boob once in awhile.”

The manager, Marcel Deschaines, admitted that he asked York if she were drowning her baby. But he defended the comment as a joke.

The investigator who looked into the case after York filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission didn’t see it the same way.

“The attempted joke was not only crude and juvenile, it would also likely intimidate or embarrass any nursing mother in the same circumstance,” investigator Robert Beauchesne wrote in his report to the commission. “One should reasonably expect more from a manager whose actions serve as a guide for subordinates.”

Beauchesne concluded in his report that Deschaines discriminated against York by interfering with her right under Maine law to breast-feed in public.

The report will now be forwarded to the Maine Human Rights Commission for a final vote on Dec. 13.

If the commissioners accept the investigator’s recommendation, the two sides will be encouraged to reach an out-of-court settlement. If one cannot be reached, York will have the option of suing Denny’s with backing from the commission.

York told the investigator that she was so upset by Deschaines’ comments that she immediately asked for her bill. Before she left, she said, Deschaines told her that she shouldn’t breast-feed in public if she didn’t like hearing comments.

Then, she said, he offered her money for her meal and coupons for five additional free meals, while saying, “This conversation never happened.”

Deschaines denied making any comment other than the one about the baby drowning, and he wrote in a statement to the investigator that he offered the free meal and coupons as an apology.

He said Monday that he has worked at the Court Street eatery for 15 years, and his character has never been questioned.

“I wasn’t being lewd and crude,” he said. “It was just a whole misunderstanding. My wife breast-fed all of my kids, and it never offended me.”

According to the investigator’s report, the restaurant also investigated York’s allegations and gave Deschaines a written warning that went in his personnel file.