The University of Maine System discriminated against a woman when it refused to hire her because of her age, a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor said.
Sarah Hardy worked for the University of Maine Farmington from 2001 to 2022, mostly as a mathematics professor, according to the lawsuit. She’s accusing the University of Maine System of violating the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Maine Human Rights Act with its policy that retired employees cannot be rehired into full-time regular positions.
The prohibition on rehiring retired employees only affects people 55 and older, which is age discrimination, the lawsuit said. People who retire can only be hired into part-time regular, part-time temporary, or full-time temporary positions.
The University of Maine System violated state and federal laws, the lawsuit against the system and Chancellor Daniel Malloy said. If a federal judge rules in Hardy’s favor, the system may have to rescind its policy, be permanently banned from age discrimination and give Hardy back pay.
The complaint has not been reviewed by the university system, so it cannot comment, Director of External Affairs Samantha Warren said.
Maine Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Hardy right to sue letters after she filed complaints with the organizations.
“UMS’s no-rehire policy has resulted in and continues to result in UMS’s refusal to rehire employees who retired from UMS and to deter such employees from applying for rehire by UMS, even in positions other than the position from which the employee retired,” the lawsuit said. “All employees barred from applying for full-time positions are aged fifty-five and older. There is no legitimate business reason for UMS’s no-rehire policy.”
Hardy accepted a retirement incentive in March 2022 with a retirement date of Sept. 1, 2022. She applied for the position of interim provost at UMF and was offered the job on Aug. 31, 2022. Interim UMF President Joseph McDonnell said a contract would be emailed that day, but it was not.
She was verbally offered the interim position for 10 months, the remainder of the fiscal year. Because of delays with interviews and human resources sending the contract, the paperwork was not processed until after Sept. 1, when her retirement became official, the lawsuit said.
Two other UMF employees had taken the retirement offer and then delayed their retirement to continue work for an additional semester or two, without an impact to the extra retirement money, the lawsuit said.
The retirement policy was the “sole reason” Hardy was not hired for the position, the lawsuit said.
Human resources said on Sept. 1 that Hardy was not eligible for the position, but an email the next day from the director of Labor and Employee Relations said Hardy could accept the job and have the retirement benefit deferred, the lawsuit said.
Two weeks later Hardy was offered the position again, but for 30 hours a week, despite it likely requiring close to 60 hours of work, according to the lawsuit.
Hardy declined the job because it was a 60 percent reduction in wages and benefits.
