A Wales woman who worked as a security officer at Bath Iron Works is claiming co-workers and supervisors sexually harassed her.
After she complained, Larraine Barnes was bumped to a lower-paying shift and the harassment continued for more than a year, she said in a lawsuit filed recently in Androscoggin County Superior Court.
Jeffrey Peters, a Bath lawyer who represents BIW and General Dynamics Corp., declined to comment on the suit. He said his clients planned to file a response with the court.
Co-workers began spreading rumors in October 2003 that she and another employee were sleeping together. They joked that women smelled like fish. That led to a supervisor giving her the nickname, “Corporal Mackerel,” her suit said.
She pleaded with them to stop, but the harassment continued, she said.
Three months later, she was moved to a different patrol shift with no explanation. The new shift didn’t pay time and a half like the one she used to have. She first complained to her superiors, then to a union representative who referred her to the ethics department at the yard.
After co-workers and supervisors denied the charges, that department’s investigator concluded there had been no harassment, she said.
A short time later, one of the supervisors stalked her during her shift, according to the suit. She complained to the head of security. But he downplayed the incidents, telling her she was “paranoid” and that it was “all in her head,” according to court records. He said she needed to “buck up,” a term she took to mean, “suck it up and stop complaining.”
In August 2004, Barnes injured her shoulder on the job while trying to open a garage door. Company medical workers examined the injury and misdiagnosed it as a strained biceps, Barnes said. As a result, she was told she wouldn’t be allowed to carry her gun during her patrol shift.
A supervisor who had allegedly harassed her later followed her to an off-grounds gym, she said. She was later questioned about how she was able to exercise with her injury.
The sexual comments continued, she said.
Then her job was threatened. She said a supervisor told her there had been no problems on her shift until she started working there. He told her no one wanted to work with her. She was berated and told her complaints were lies, and that she would be reported to the head of security.
In April 2005, Barnes learned she would have to take a shooting test to carry her gun again. If she didn’t pass, she was told she’d be fired. Only a letter from her lawyer got her out of the test.
After returning from a vacation, she heard her name was put on a list of workers to be laid off, she said, ahead of people who had less seniority.
Barnes sued, saying BIW discriminated against her on the basis of her sex, and she sought protection under Maine’s Whistleblower’s Protection Act.
She filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission in June 2005, but withdrew the complaint in January before the commission’s investigator had a chance to probe the allegation.
Complainants are allowed to take their cases directly to court six months or more after filing their complaints with the commission. A commission spokeswoman said Barnes’ case had been backlogged.
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