BANGOR, Maine — A former janitor at the Calais border crossing station has sued his former employer and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent alleging he was discriminated against because of his religion and suffered retaliation when he complained about it.
John A. Beach, 35, of Alexander sued CMC & Maintenance Inc. of Bangor and Michael Todd Smith of Perry on Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Beach worked for CMC & Maintenance, which had the cleaning and lawn care contract for the facility, located in Baring.
A receptionist at CMC & Maintenance said Wednesday that the company had no comment on the lawsuit. Efforts to reach Michelle Benson-Fuller, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to comment on the lawsuit or to determine if Smith is still employed by the agency, were unsuccessful.
Beach, who was studying to become a Jehovah’s Witness, claimed Smith, the highest ranking agent at the Calais station, made disparaging remarks about religion and jokes about the Jehovah’s Witnesses practice of evangelizing door-to-door.
When Smith learned that Beach’s parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, he said, “Gees, now I have another reason to hate your parents,” the complaint, written by Beach’s Bangor attorney John Gause, said. Smith also allegedly said that “The only good Catholic is a dead Catholic” and “I don’t like Catholics.”
Beach claimed in the lawsuit that after he emailed the U.S. Border Patrol facilities manager on May 31, 2012, about the alleged discrimination, Smith falsely claimed in June 2012 that Beach was doing a poor job of maintaining the facility and cut his hours from 40 to 30 in retaliation.
In August 2013, Beach was interviewed as part of an investigation into a separate discrimination complaint made by a U.S. Border Patrol employer against Smith, the lawsuit said. After that, Smith’s criticism of Beach’s cleaning increased even though the building was undergoing renovations, the complaint alleged.
CMC & Maintenance did not address the retaliation against Beach, the complaint charged.
Beach was fired on Nov. 25, 2013, for alleged poor work performance and leaving work early.
“The reasons given for [Beach’s] termination were false,” the complaint said.
Beach is seeking reinstatement, back pay, lost employment benefits, unspecified and compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys fees.