AUGUSTA — The Maine Human Rights Commission voted unanimously Monday to dismiss complaints by a former Standish town manager against the town, ruling there are no reasonable grounds to support them.

“We’re obviously disappointed in the result, but that doesn’t preclude us from bringing a claim to Superior Court,” Kris Tucker’s attorney Gregg Frame said in an interview after the commission’s hearing. He said he would be discussing that possibility with Tucker.

Tucker, who was fired a year and a half ago after seven months on the job, said he was a victim of assault and false allegations of harassment and sexual harassment by his administrative assistant, whose mother is a town councilor.

The assistant made the harassment allegations in June 2018, the day Tucker’s six-month performance review was scheduled, Frame said at the hearing. Tucker’s performance review was postponed, and a third party investigation during Tucker’s tenure exonerated him of harassment.

Tucker claimed that the assistant kicked him from behind in the rear/groin area. He said the reason he was accused of harassment was, in part, because he informed the assistant about a potentially cancerous lump on his testicle.

In his complaint to the commission in November 2018, Tucker claimed the town discriminated against him on the basis of a medical disability and retaliated against him for claiming his administrative assistant had sexually harassed him. Commission investigator Jane O’Reilly recommended that the complaint be dismissed.

The town claims that none of the councilors mentioned a perceived disability or alleged assault in their written performance reviews. Instead, the reviews claimed Tucker had poor communication with the Town Council, poor leadership skills and inappropriate workplace attire.

Tucker attended the hearing but declined to comment after it concluded.

Attorney Johnathan Brogan, who represents the town, could not be reached for comment before the Lakes Region Weekly’s deadline.

“His issues are not human rights complaints,”  Brogan said in an earlier interview. “They’re complaints about other things. As the investigator found, he’s not disabled.”

Frame said during his presentation Monday that Tucker disclosed to the Town Council both the assault and the potentially cancerous lump during an executive session meeting on July 16, 2018.

Both the commission’s investigator and Brogan disputed that claim, saying Tucker actually disclosed that information on July 18. Frame said that after Tucker talked with the council on July 16, councilors gave him negative performance reviews, which took place two days later.

“Kris Tucker was doing a good job as town manager,” Frame said. “(He was) fired in a hastily arranged manner with reviews that we believe are pretty trumped up and conflated.” 

Brogan argued Monday that the case is “a contract case, not a human rights case, not a discrimination case. Nothing you’ve heard establishes any human rights complaints here.”

“(Tucker) didn’t fit in, wasn’t doing what the Town Council wanted and he got fired. That’s what happened,” Brogan said. “There is no evidence of discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act. Whether he has other claims, he can pursue those in court.”

O’Reilly said four of the seven council performance reviews were dated July 18. One was not dated, and two were dated in June and then re-dated to July 18.

She said even if the Town Council had found out about the assault and Tucker’s health issue on July 16, not July 18, as she found, “I would still come to the same conclusion” regarding the dismissal of Tucker’s claims.

“I do think the timing of the complainant’s complaint to the council is central to the case,” said Commissioner Jeff Ashby. “I’m convinced that the record supports that he made his complaint after (on July 18).” 

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