ROCKLAND – A Rockland police detective filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland against the city claiming she was demoted and denied reasonable workplace accommodations and was subject to retaliation and sex, pregnancy and disability discrimination because she was pregnant.

The lawsuit was filed July 18 on behalf of Anne Griffith by Attorney Martin Tartre of the Employee Rights Group in Portland. The case, according to the suit, arises under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Maine Human Rights Act.

A response has not yet been filed by the city, which has 21 days to file a response after being served with the complaint or longer if an extension is granted by the court.  That answer is due by Aug. 19, according to court documents.

Griffith has worked for the Rockland Police Department since October 2017 and in 2021 was promoted to detective. In 2022, she was sworn in as a special agent for the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit where she investigated the exploitation of children across the state of Maine from December 2021 until July 2024 in addition to her duties for the police department.

In lieu of being reimbursed for her work for the State of Maine, Griffith was given statewide jurisdiction, a police cruiser, a gas card, and special database access. This is part of an agreement between the state and Rockland’s police department. Most of Griffith’s work for the Computer Crimes Unit was done remotely. She occasionally worked in-person or in the field to execute search warrants and interview victims, witnesses, and suspects, according to the lawsuit.

The officer had filed a complaint in September 2024 against the city of Rockland with the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging unlawful discrimination and retaliation because the city denied multiple requests to let her work from home while she was pregnant, violating her right to a “reasonable accommodation” under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Maine Human Rights Act.

Both the MHRC and EEOC issued her a notice of right to sue in May 2025 since the city had not acted on her claims.

“Ultimately, Griffith could have performed her duties remotely. The essential functions that she could not fulfill remotely were duties that she performed very infrequently, meaning that it would not have been burdensome for another employee to perform these duties in Griffith’s case on the slight chance that they arose while she was working remotely. Griffith also volunteered to take on additional duties not required of her in order to lighten the load of other employees who may have needed to cover for her,” according to the suit.

The City of Rockland responded to Griffith’s complaints in its denial letter on Jan. 12, 2024 and said: “Our expectation is that employees are physically present at work. We must look at fairness for all; present and future, when making decisions as an employer for its employees. Your light duty position provides support in many other functions of the daily operations of the Rockland Police Department. This support can only be obtained by being present in the office."

The city said: “We are not required to provide you with remote work because the City does not offer remote work to any of its employees. Furthermore, your job as a City of Rockland Police Detective is particularly not well suited to remote work, even if it was an option."

The lawsuit contends that Rockland’s claim it was not required to provide Griffith with remote work is a violation of the PWFA, ADA, and MHRA.

“Rockland demoted Griffith by failing to renew her contract with the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit," the suit said. "Griffith’s appointment as a Special Agent with the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit was considered a promotion. It is a specialty assignment that only one other person in the State of Maine holds. When Rockland refused to renew Griffith’s contract with the Maine State Police, they demoted her.”

Rockland’s demotion was retaliation against Griffith for requesting an accommodation and engaging in protected activity under the state and federal laws, the suit said. Because the City chose not to renew her contract, Griffith no longer had statewide jurisdiction and had to relinquish her state-issued cruiser, computers and electronics, and state issued IDs and badge. She also lost access to certain state-wide databases, the lawsuit said.

The suit further contends that when Griffith was forced to relinquish her state-issued cruiser Rockland then gave her the oldest and worst cruiser in the city's fleet even though she is senior detective in the department and should have received the newest cruiser upon her return to work, the suit said. When Griffith returned to work after maternity leave, she noticed that a lot of her equipment had been taken away from her and not replaced. That included a computer monitor, external speakers, and a handcuff carrier.

Griffith was originally planning to return to work from maternity leave in July 2024 but had to to extend her maternity leave and returned to work on October 1, 2024, the suit said. Griffith was not paid for her full hours by Rockland from November 13, 2023, through October 1, 2024. She used paycheck insurance, sick time, and paid time off but ultimately had to go on unpaid leave. She was supplemented by the Rockland Fire Department who transferred a large quantity of banked sick leave because she had used up all of hers, according to the suit.

Griffith requests that the court grant the following relief, including that the court declare the conduct engaged in by the city to be in violation of her rights; order the city to award front pay; award lost future earnings to compensate her diminution in expected earnings caused by the discrimination; award equitable-relief for back pay, lost benefits, and prejudgment interest; award compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial; award enhanced compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial and award attorneys’ fees, including legal expenses, and costs.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com