PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A spokesman for workers at Maine’s long-term health care centers has filed a federal lawsuit against a former employer alleging that he was discriminated against because he is an Arab Muslim and his brother died fighting for the Islamic State terrorist group.

Geriatrics specialist Dr. Jabbar Fazeli states in the whistleblower lawsuit filed Monday that his contract at three Cumberland County assisted living centers was terminated in 2018, three years after his brother died on the Lebanon border.

The lawsuit alleges that as his brothers story spread he was treated “with increasing bias and disrespect” and that he was bypassed as medical director in company decisions.