PORTLAND, Maine — The city has reached an undisclosed settlement with a former employee who sued last year over alleged discrimination.
Wieslaw Sobieraj brought a federal lawsuit against Portland in October, claiming that his co-workers at a city garage were physically abusive, mocked his Polish ancestry and maligned him with anti-gay epithets. The city denied the allegations.
After months of litigation and a settlement conference in April, Sobieraj and the city reached an agreement, according to a Thursday filing in the U.S. District Court of Maine in Portland.
[Former city of Portland employee files federal discrimination suit]
The terms of the settlement were not made public in the court filing. Sobieraj’s lawyer, Harold Friedman of Portland, declined to comment. A city spokeswoman declined to comment.
In January 2015, after the alleged harassment, Sobieraj left his job and remained out of work and in psychological treatment for a year, the suit states.
Sobieraj sued for reinstatement to his old job, back pay and punitive damages. His case will be dismissed once the settlement is completed, the court filing states.
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