The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland discriminated against an employee in its Ellsworth parish when a priest told her she was getting too old for her job, according to the Maine Human Rights Commission.
The commission voted 4-0 this week in favor of complaints filed against the diocese by Monica Giordano, who was 72 years old when she was unfairly disciplined and then terminated by the diocese in 2023, her attorney said.
Giordano had complained to the diocese’s human resources department that a priest serving in the parish — whose name has not been disclosed — had become increasingly critical of her, despite her having worked for the parish as an administrative assistant for nearly 20 years, according to Kristin Aiello, a lawyer who represented Giordano’s before the commission.
Diocese officials did not take corrective action, however, and instead retaliated against Giordano by telling her co-workers to stay away from her, Aiello said.
“The commission recognized that age discrimination is real, harmful, and unacceptable,” Aiello said. “Employers cannot retaliate against workers who speak up about abuse. The law is clear: reporting harassment is protected, and punishing someone for doing so is illegal.”
The diocese did not provide an immediate comment about the case when contacted Thursday afternoon.
The commission heard arguments in Giordano’s complaint on Monday. The diocese’s attorney, James Haddow, told the commission that church officials did have job performance concerns about Giordano and, when her complaints were investigated, no other employees at the parish gave evidence to support her allegations.
Haddow denied that a priest made a throat-cutting gesture toward Giordano when he suggested her behavior would get her fired; that the priest held up a box of adult diapers and asked her if she knew what they were for; and that the priest had assaulted her by throwing papers in her face.
An investigator had suggested that, because of the lack of corroborating testimony, there were no grounds for Giordano’s complaints to move forward toward a possible lawsuit against the diocese, Haddow said.
Aiello countered that the investigator did determine that the priest had told her she was getting too old for her job and that there was a hostile work environment in the parish office.
She also said the diocese did nothing to address Giordano’s complaints. After Giordano contacted human resources to complain in April 2023, she got no response for 24 days and, when she did hear back, it was a reprimand telling her to stop making false accusations, Aiello said.
“She was suddenly labeled as combative and accused of spreading rumors,” Aiello told the commission. “She was effectively isolated [from coworkers] and made a pariah in the office.”
She also was accused of stealing a camera from the parish but, when Ellsworth police investigated the alleged theft, they said parish officials offered no evidence that Giordano had taken it, Aiello said.
With the commission’s ruling, the case now proceeds to the post-determination conciliation process, Aiello said. If a settlement is not reached, Giordano has the right to pursue the matter in court.
