A former U.S. Air Force researcher was wrongfully discharged, discriminated against and issued a threat that she "would be treated like Edward Snowden" by supervisors, a federal lawsuit alleges.

Bonnie Riehl, 70, of Beavercreek, is a former employee of the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton who started working with the Air Force in 1991, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court.

In 2012, Riehl was working as an operations research analyst in the 711th Human Performance Wing. The 711th wing is a "human-centric warfare wing" that was made to "consolidate human performance research, education and consultation under a single organization," according to its website.

According to the lawsuit, in January 2012 Riehl filed a complaint with the Inspector General's Office (the office responsible for the Air Force's internal investigations) alleging "improper steering of research funding" and that her second line supervisor was misrepresenting research proposals to obtain federal funding, court documents say.

The lawsuit says she made a second complaint against the supervisor in October 2013, asserting he had started an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and that he used his position to give the female co-worker a promotion and other favorable treatments.

A month later Riehl filed another complaint, according to the lawsuit, after she was threatened by a first line supervisor to be treated "like Edward Snowden," a former National Security Agency contractor who is accused of violating the espionage act by leaking details of secret surveillance programs.

The complaint says the two supervisors and the female coworker threatened and retaliated against her after Riehl disclosed to them she filed the complaints.

According to the lawsuit, her coworkers "embarked on a plan to retaliate against (Riehl) and create a hostile working environment for her." Riehl alleges her co-workers accused her of plagiarism, being a security risk and engaging in inappropriate workplace behavior.

They "revoked (Riehl's) computer privileges, opened a security investigation file on her, assigned her to work areas she was unfamiliar with, denied her training in these new areas, ostracized her from other staff, removed her from a nuclear certification program," which caused her to fail the course, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also accuses the second line supervisor of attempting to scare her and cause physical harm through a number of incidents "including running at her in the hallway, banging on a metal cabinet in her office and yelling at her."

The lawsuit says Riehl was fired in March of 2016.

Riehl's attorney, David M. Duwell, wrote in the lawsuit that Riehl is suing based on protections from the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, citing protections against sex and age discrimination, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Riehl is asking for back pay and benefits or front pay and benefits, $300,000 in damages and other restitution.