Sun, 09/13/2026 - 11:13pm

Sarah Shepherd

ROCKLAND – A former detective with the Rockland Police Department was paid $150,000 to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit she filed against the city in July 2025.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Portland on behalf of Anne Griffith by Attorney Martin Tartre of the Employee Rights Group in Portland.

The case, according to the suit, claimed discrimination under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) and said that Griffith was demoted and denied reasonable workplace accommodations and was subject to retaliation and disability discrimination because she was pregnant.

The city, represented by Attorney Daniel J. Murphy of Bernstein Shur in Portland, filed a response to the lawsuit and denied the claims Griffith alleged under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Maine Human Rights Act. They contended its actions were legitimate, reasonable, legally justified, and not in violation of the law.

A federal judge had schedued a trial for Oct.15 before the settlement agreement was filed Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit will be dismissed once the settlement notice is filed in court which is required to be done within 30 days.

The agreement, released by the city states that they admit no wrong doing and both parties have agreed to not make, at any time, directly or indirectly, any oral or written or statements about each other, according to the court document.

Griffith's legal expenses of $60,000 will be paid from the $150,000 settlement agreement. The city’s legal fees are covered by insurance.

Stipulations of the agreement also require Griffith to resign her employment with Rockland which occurred on July 23. The voluntary resignation will be recorded in good standing. Griffith also agrees that she will not, at any time in the future, seek employment of reemployment with the city in any capacity including as an employee, independent consultant, or volunteer, according to the settlement document.

Griffith 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 was 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.

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 filed in July 2025 contended that Rockland’s claim that it was not required to provide Griffith with remote work was 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.”

Because the city chose not to renew her contract, Griffith said she 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 and Rockland then gave her the oldest and worst cruiser in the city's fleet even though she was the senior detective in the department.