A former employee of Acadia National Park is suing the federal government alleging he was denied jobs because of his age and race.
The lawsuit, filed in February and amended on May 20, alleges that David A. Smith of Bar Harbor was passed over for positions in the park’s road maintenance division because he is Native American and over 40 years old.
The lawsuit names Doug Burgum, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron as defendants.
While employed as a park ranger at Acadia National Park from 2017 to 2022, Smith did a number of other jobs during the off season, including work with the Roads Maintenance Division, according to the lawsuit.
He was interested in transferring to the roads division, in part because park rangers face mandatory retirement at age 57, and notified the division supervisor of his interest. When three jobs opened up in the roads division, he applied, but the jobs went to white workers under the age of 40, according to the lawsuit.
Smith’s exact age is not given in the lawsuit. The supervisor, Steven Allison, is listed as being white and over 40.
Smith filed a complaint and the Park Service and Interior Department investigated, interviewing Allison, who said he had not known Smith was Native American until he filed the complaint.
In 2022, two more openings came up in the roads division. Smith applied and was identified as a qualified candidate, but Allison cancelled the application process, re-opening it to a wider field, which Smith believes was motivated by discrimination, according to the lawsuit.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission heard Smith’s discrimination claim, combining it with the previous complaint, but ultimately dismissed it.
Having exhausted his administrative remedies, Smith filed the federal lawsuit.
