A former employee of Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro has filed a federal lawsuit in which she claims her employer discriminated against her for not following his religious beliefs.

Alinna Diaz of Waldoboro had previously filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, which ruled in November 2014 that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that unlawful discrimination occurred.”

Shortly after that decision, Gov. Paul LePage, in a highly unusual move, asked the commission to reconsider its decision – raising the case’s profile further.

Diaz was an employee of Moody’s Diner, a well-known eatery on Route 1, for a decade when she began dating the son of her boss, Dan Beck, in 2012.

Beck, a devout Presbyterian, did not approve of the relationship and told her so, according to Diaz’s 15-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Portland.

In early 2013, she was summoned to Beck’s home and was told by Dan Beck and his wife, Ruth, that their son was using her and that she could not be in a relationship with him until “she knew where she stood with God.”

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At one point, Diaz was asked to pray with Beck and said she was forced to delete a Facebook post in June 2013 that appeared to be directed at the Becks.

“Just because you don’t think that I hear the hateful things you say about me, doesn’t mean that God can’t,” it read.

After several months of what Diaz called harassment by the Becks, she was asked to resign.

She declined but said the harassment continued, prompting her to file a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission in January 2014.

The commission ruled in favor of Diaz and then began working with Diaz and Moody’s on mediation.

While the case was in mediation, LePage wrote to the commission asking it to reconsider while his office investigated further.

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LePage even threatened to go to court, according to the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which obtained the governor’s letter through a Freedom of Access Act request.

The commission denied LePage’s request in late March and mediation efforts failed.

LePage has said publicly that he wasn’t trying to meddle but trying to help Moody’s Diner officials who told him they believed the commission’s investigation may have been biased.

Diaz, in her complaint, requested a jury trial and is seeking lost wages and punitive damages.

Robert Brooks, an attorney representing Moody’s, did not return a call for comment and has not yet filed a response to the complaint.

 


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