A UW maintenance worker and U.S. Army reservist has filed a lawsuit against the UW, claiming that he experienced discrimination and harassment regarding his involvement with the Iraq war both before his deployment in 2006 and after his return in 2007.

James Lukehart has worked for the university since 1992 and has been a member of the U.S. Army since 1971; he currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“Prior to his deployment,” the suit reads, “a group of employees reporting to plaintiff condemned him for his military service and accused him of engaging in immoral, if not illegal, action if he deployed to Iraq as ordered.”

Upon returning from Iraq a little more than a year later, Lukehart was told he could not resume work for the UW until an investigation into allegations of misconduct on his part had been completed ­— allegations which had been filed without his knowledge, he claimed.

While in Iraq, the lawsuit reads, he was not informed that complaints were being filed against him and was not told he was being investigated.

UW workers are traditionally allowed to see information regarding complaints about them, either in the form of a full written report or by looking it up in their full employee profile, which all employees can access. Whether Lukehart should have been directly informed of the complaints against him would depend on how the complaints were filed, which has not been released.

At the conclusion of the investigation in December 2007, Lukehart was given the choice to either have his employment terminated or be demoted from facilities manager to maintenance manager and attend “an intensive counseling program.” He chose to take the demotion.

But this is only Lukehart’s side of the story, said UW spokesperson Norm Arkans. The UW has not yet had the chance to respond to the suit, but until then, the university’s official statement is that “[Lukehart’s] status here has absolutely nothing to do with his service in Iraq.”

This type of treatment of veteran servicemen and women is not widespread, but does occur, said Adam Lewis, a UW student who served in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005.

“Comparatively speaking, Seattle tends to be a little less sympathetic of servicemen,” Lewis said. “[But] in my experience, the people I’ve met, they’ve all been very respectful. Almost everyone has been good to me.”

The university will respond to the lawsuit later this month.

Reach reporter Morgan Gard at news@dailyuw.com.