WESTBROOK – Matt Lamontagne, who was fired in December, will get his job back.

Westbrook firefighter Matt Lamontagne, who was fired by the city in December, will be reinstated to his position, based on a ruling by a state arbitration board.

The Board of Arbitration and Conciliation this week overturned the city’s decision to fire Lamontagne on the basis of an incident in which he touched the breast of firefighter Lisa Theberge, who is currently on administrative leave from the department.

According to the board’s decision, Lamontagne was demonstrating on Theberge’s body where to place electrodes that are used to take the electrical impulses of someone who is having heart problems.

Eyewitness Joe Salisbury, a per diem firefighter, testified that Lamontagne lifted her breast with the edge of his hand, palm facing her chest, but did not cup or grab her breast.

Salisbury said that he and Theberge raised their eyebrows at each other but she continued to talk to Lamontagne about the procedure.

The board concluded that Lamontagne did not touch Theberge in a sexually harassing manner. In addition, Theberge did not file a complaint regarding the incident, which occurred in 2007, within the 300 days required by the Maine Human Rights Act, nor did she include the incident when filing a complaint in 2008 that contained 150 alleged incidences of sexual harassment involving 20 firefighters.

Theberge and firefighter Kathy Rogers have been on paid leave since the fall of 2008 based on what they described as a hostile work environment. Their sexual harassment complaints led to an investigation by the city and, in December 2008, the punishment of seven firefighters, including Lamontagne, who was suspended for 60 days.

According to the board’s report, the fire chief at the time, Gary Littlefield, who abruptly retired in October 2008, recommended that the city fire Lamontagne at the time of the investigation, due to inappropriate language and vulgarity. In order to save his job, Lamontagne accepted the suspension and agreed not to file a grievance against the city for the discipline.

The report says that the city only became aware of breast-touching incident in January 2009. Michael Wing, the consultant hired by the city to conduct the investigation in 2008, interviewed Theberge, Lamontagne and Salisbury. He said Theberge had never mentioned the incident previously.

Wing prepared a report in June 2009 recommending that the city fire Lamontagne. The city held a hearing for Lamontagne in November and fired him in December. He will be compensated with back pay and benefits for the time he was unemployed.

Another hearing in front of the Board of Arbitration and Conciliation is scheduled for Lieutenant Donald Trafford next week. Trafford already had a decision by the city overturned by the board in June, after he was demoted from lieutenant to firefighter during the December 2008 punishments.

Trafford received the harshest punishment of the seven firefighters and was the only one to file a grievance at the time.