A Windham County woman is taking the Hermitage Club to court over her job termination, which she claims had to do with comments made about the well-being of horses and a fellow employee.

Plaintiff Effie Mayhew said she was hired as a full-time employee by the Hermitage Club in April 2014. Her duties largely involved maintenance around the resort’s gardens.

“Shortly after starting her employment, Mayhew discovered that the inn had two resident horses, Will and Bill,” the lawsuit stated. “Given her lifelong love of (and experience with) horses, Mayhew expressed interest in providing in-house care for the horses.”

The Hermitage Inn is described in the lawsuit as a luxury hotel and anchor property of the Hermitage Club, which runs an exclusive four seasons private club community with hundreds of members. But not all of its operations are private. The lawsuit also says Jim Barnes, Hermitage Club owner and founder, prides himself on having built companies worth over $1 billion in revenues and employing more than 1,000 people.

Management teams from the Hermitage Club allegedly offered the horse caretaker responsibility to Mayhew, who said she immediately observed that their manes were untended, their hooves were in poor shape and their pasture was not adequate for their needs. She then took “the initiative in remediating these deficiencies” with management responding positively to the efforts, according to the lawsuit.

Mayhew alleges the Hermitage Club promptly terminated its outside contractor and expanded her job duties to encompass care of the horses, too. She said she learned management’s ultimate goal was to employ the horses as working horses.

During a staff party in May, general manager Rob Aubin allegedly approached Mayhew and told her he was pleased she assumed care of the animals and mentioned his delight at getting rid of an outside contractor’s bill.

“He assured Mayhew that she should purchase anything that she felt was necessary to tend to the animals,” the lawsuit reads.

In order for the horses to provide carriage and sleigh rides for guests, Mayhew claims she spent “long hours outside of her regular work hours” researching equipment options. And when the proposal was presented to Aubin, he approved it. The orders were believed to be placed in June.

Around the same time, the lawsuit said, Mayhew “made it abundantly clear” to Aubin that she was not trained as a carriage driver and she found a local woman from Brookside Stables to provide riding lessons.

“(Trainer) surveyed the terrain and told Mayhew that the grounds were not suitable for training,” the lawsuit said, noting Aubin allegedly approved of boarding the horses for one month with the trainer so the horses could be trained in safe conditions. “Will and Bill were subsequently relocated off the premises for safe training purposes.”

During the summer, Mayhew claims she talked with management about the inn’s plans for an equestrian center and their interest in having her manage it. She said she researched various building options and had discussions with the inn’s building engineer. She said she was told once the carriage and sleigh ride program was up and running, she would receive a percentage of the sales from the program.

Mayhew claims to have worked at least 100 hours of uncompensated overtime during this time period but with the understanding that her compensation would flow directly from the proceeds of the equestrian ventures once they got going.

“The representations made to her under these circumstances were intended to, and did, induce her to work above and beyond her compensated hours to implement Hermitage management business vision as discussed,” the lawsuit said. “It was therefore a shock to Mayhew when, out of the blue and despite management’s commitment to this vision and Mayhew’s reliance upon those plans, management informed Mayhew in early August that Aubin had not approved the carriage purchase.”

During the same time, the horses came back to the inn. Mayhew said she discovered various poisonous plants in the inn’s wooded pasture and she immediately requested new pasture land, roping off dangerous areas with fencing.

“Her efforts were undermined by her manager despite her insistence (both verbal and in writing) that to subject the horses to dangerous pasture was neglect,” the lawsuit reads.

Mayhew claims she then met with Hermitage Operations Manager Mike Quinn to confirm the equestrian center plan and told him about the plants.

“Quinn had previously informed Mayhew that the Humane Society had already been out to check on the horses as a result of prior complaints,” the lawsuit said. “She therefore emphasized to Quinn that the Humane Society might take a negative view toward the treatment of the horses.”

Mayhew said she was asked to prepare a business plan for the equestrian center and the carriage program. She sent the plan to Quinn on Aug. 20. Two days later, she received instructions by e-mail that her work with the horses would continue for three hours a day and other people would be responsible for their water and feed.

“When she visited the horses that weekend, they had no fresh hay and barely any water,” the lawsuit said.

Mayhew said she emphasized to the manager that the Humane Society would do something about this and if it continued she would be compelled to call them. She said she watered and fed the animals then sent an e-mail to Barnes voicing concern about the animals’ well-being.

Mayhew also claims her supervisor Ben Fritz made negative comments about an employee who was absent due to National Guard service. Mayhew said she pointed out such statements suggested potential violations of laws that protect service members from being fired.

On Aug. 25, Mayhew was allegedly called in to Fritz’ office and terminated.

“During that conversation, Fritz stated that he was terminating Mayhew because of her advocacy on behalf of the horses and what he perceived to be threatening comments about reporting the inn to the Humane Society for mistreatment of its animals,” the lawsuit said, noting the comments about the employee serving in the National Guard are also believed to have played a role in the decision to fire her.

Mayhew contends the Hermitage Club participated in wrongful discharge in violation of public policy and violated wage and hour laws. She is seeking transfer of ownership of the horses, compensatory damages including past and future wages, liquidated damages, punitive damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs of action and any other relief that the court might deem just and appropriate.

The Hermitage Club denied most of Mayhew’s claims, saying Mayhew had asked and was authorized to spend three to four hours of her scheduled workdays tending to the horses. The company denied ever having the goal of employing horses.

The Hermitage Club said Mayhew never held the position or title of in-house caretaker and compensation for 69.25 overtime hours was paid to Mayhew, who was also given more money “in furtherance of her job duties.”

Source: http://www.reformer.com/latestnews/ci_28909139/hermitage-club-and-former-employee-sues-after-job