LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman says she was illegally fired from a Nebraska state agency last year just before she was to go on maternity leave.

Jen Rae Wang says in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that her $90,000-a-year communications and planning job was eliminated about a month after a new director starting working at the Department of Natural Resources.

Wang alleges in the lawsuit that Director Jeff Fassett treated her differently than non-pregnant employees. She says she submitted maternity leave paperwork on Sept. 11, and was told later that day that her job was being eliminated. According to the lawsuit, Fassett refused her request for a lower-paying job that was open.

The Department of Natural Resources did not immediately respond to a phone message.