MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) – A Marine Corps reservist who was injured fighting in Iraq has sued Medford in federal court, claiming he was not hired as a city firefighter because he was serving overseas during part of the application process.

Sgt. Stephen P. McLaughlin, 25, alleges that Medford broke federal and state laws protecting active members of the military from job discrimination on the basis of their service.

“You would think they would at least honor that I wasn’t here because I was fighting for my country,” McLaughlin said.

City officials said he was not hired because his license was suspended for a year six years ago because he refused to take a breath test after he was pulled over in New Hampshire, and because of a handful of minor violations he committed as a teenager. The city also contends he did not truthfully answer a question on his application.

“According to these records, Mr. McLaughlin’s past has exhibited immature behavior, lack of responsibility and a disregard for the law,” said a city document explaining the decision and released to The Boston Globe with McLaughlin’s permission on Wednesday.

McLaughlin’s lawyer, Harold L. Lichten, called the city’s reasoning “a pretext for the real reason, which was that he was in service at the time.”

The untruthfully answered question was a misunderstanding, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said on his application that he had not been rejected from any civil service position even though he unsuccessfully applied for a firefighter’s job in 2004. Lichten said his client’s father, who filled out the application, misunderstood the question; McLaughlin had not been hired but he was never told he was rejected.

McLaughlin claims in his suit that he was told by the mayor that he was not selected to be a firefighter because he was overseas during the application period, which began in August. McLaughlin’s father handled the paperwork in his son’s absence and assured city officials his son would be home by November.

Mayor Michael J. McGlynn said on Wednesday that he never told anyone McLaughlin was bypassed because he was serving overseas.

McLaughlin suffered a concussion and second-degree burns on his back in July when a bomb detonated under his vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq.

He has also filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and appealed to the Civil Service Commission.

“I’m not denying I made mistakes – I absolutely made mistakes when I was young,” he said. “Joining the Marine Corps was the best thing that ever happened to me. ..I’ve proudly served my country, and I would proudly serve the Medford Fire Department, if given the opportunity.”