AUGUSTA, Maine - A Maine school district worker is accusing her employer of discrimination, saying it was wrong to reprimand her for telling a co-worker that she'd pray for him.
Toni Richardson, a special education technician for the Augusta School Department, filed a federal religious discrimination complaint Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
She says she was "interrogated'' by school officials about the prayer remark in which she intended to offer encouragement to a struggling co-worker who goes to her church. She says school officials subsequently warned that she could be disciplined for "phrases that integrate public and private belief systems'' at school.
Augusta Schools Superintendent James Anastasio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Richardson's lawyer Jeremy Dys says school employees "are not required to hide their faith from each other while on campus.''