Country Club Named in 2 New Lawsuits

THOUSAND OAKS — Already rocked by two lawsuits alleging tip-skimming by management and discrimination against female members, North Ranch Country Club is facing more legal problems.

Employees have filed two new suits against club management--one by waitresses charging gender discrimination, another by waiters contending they are owed $519,000 due to unpaid overtime wages.

Three waitresses--Anita Duprey, Nora Marks and Jean Pagendarm--allege that country club managers decided in September 1994 to ban women from waiting on members at formal dinners.

The suit contends that club management decided at the same time that waitresses could not work any banquet where tables and a dance floor had to be assembled because women were weaker than men and took longer to do the job.

“A couple of times they flat-out said, ‘The boys are stronger and they can set up the dance floor faster,’ ” said Duprey, 57, adding she had never previously been discriminated against in more than 20 years in the food-service business. “I said, ‘Are you telling me I can’t work this event because I’m a woman?’ ”

The suit, filed in Ventura County Superior Court, contends that the upscale private country club is engaging in gender discrimination--a violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. It seeks unspecified damages, including compensation for lost wages and emotional distress as well as other punitive damages, with interest.

“The club made this decision, and the waitresses saw their income plummet,” said attorney Richard Hamlish, who has filed three of the four suits against North Ranch. “There was nothing these ladies couldn’t do, but they were told, ‘This silverware is too heavy for you. We don’t want you carrying those big trays.’ ”

Attorneys for North Ranch declined to comment on the specifics of the case, saying they were not sure who would handle the latest suits. But they said they consider the gender discrimination charges to be unfounded.

The suit, they argued, was filed by Hamlish to make the club look bad and place more pressure on management to settle with him on the other suits.

Hamlish also represents a group of two dozen waiters who earlier sued the country club in Ventura County Superior Court alleging they were cheated out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips from 1993 to 1996. The money--40% of the overall tips--was going directly to the club’s restaurant manager and other top administrators, Hamlish claims.

James Studer, the attorney representing the club in the case, has argued that the suit is groundless because the money in question was not a voluntary tip, but a mandatory 15% service charge tacked onto every bill.

As an outgrowth of that suit, Hamlish recently filed another suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging that his clients were never properly compensated for hundreds of hours in overtime from 1991 to 1996, a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The plaintiffs are the 24 waiters from the tip-skimming suit and the three waitresses from the gender discrimination suit. Hamlish is seeking $259,933 in unpaid overtime wages as well as additional damages totaling the same amount.

Attorneys for the country club contend the overtime suit is a ploy by Hamlish to circumvent state law and take something to federal court that a state court has rejected. Hamlish unsuccessfully sought to add the overtime wages to the tip-skimming lawsuit in Superior Court.

North Ranch Country Club also faces a suit by a couple who allege that women who join the club with their husbands are discriminated against.

According to the suit, women are typically classified as “spouse members,” a designation that severely limits their membership status.

Marlene Forstrom and her husband, Lawrence Clark, contend in the suit that female spouse members are denied access to member tournaments although male spouse members are allowed to compete in the events, and that spouse members in general have restricted access to the 27-hole golf course.

Moreover, they contend that the club spent $185,000 to build a men’s lounge without a vote of the membership while doing little to provide comparable facilities for women. As a result, women have a hard time finding a place to grab a drink at the club during regular hours, while men always can.

In addition to its legal battles, the country club has come under fire in a national golf publication for its treatment of women members.

The March / April issue of Golf for Women magazine featured an article titled “Top FAIRways” listing the best courses in the country for women. North Ranch was not mentioned there.

The piece contained a sidebar, titled, “UNFAIRways,” which ripped the club for its “unbalanced budget,” noting club management spent $185,000 to remodel the men’s lounge while only spending $5,000 for new chairs at the women’s lounge.