Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, N.C. has been sued by a former employee of its Men’s Grill and by its current golf shop manager over allegations of discrimination based on disability and age and other violations. Residents who live near The Kansas City Country Club have filed an action against the club over the noise created by the greens fans that are run during especially hot periods to help fight fungus and other turf damage.
Biltmore Forest County Club (BFCC) in Asheville, N.C. has been sued by a former employee of its Men’s Grill and by its current golf shop manager, The North State Journal of Raleigh, N.C., reported. The lawsuits allege discrimination based on disability and age and other workplace violations.
In December, Carlos Rodeia, a former server and manager of the Men’s Grill at BFCC, sued BFCC alleging wrongful discharge and violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, The North State Journal reported. And on Jan. 5, 2018, longtime golf shop manager Sheila Fender sued BFCC and 14 “John Doe” defendants who are, according to a civil complaint, members of the club’s Board of Governors, alleging violations of the North Carolina Wage & Hour Act and federal Fair Labor Standards Act for failure to pay her overtime.
“All Mrs. Fender seeks is to put a halt to the discrimination and retaliation alleged in recent legal actions filed by multiple longtime Biltmore Forest Country Club employees and to rectify the club’s failure to pay her overtime wages as required by state and federal wage laws, so that she can continue her work for a club that she loves and has faithfully served for more than 44 years,” said Fender’s attorney, Kellam Warren of Mainsail Lawyers in Asheville.
Within the pleadings filed by Fender, The North State Journal reported, Exhibit A was a letter addressed to the club’s Board of Governors on Dec. 5, 2017, in which she reiterated her allegations related to wage and hour claims and made allegations of workplace discrimination by the club’s golf pro, Jon Rector. She also alleged in her letter that the club’s management now forbids her from attending the club’s annual shareholder meeting though she is a shareholder. Fender’s letter asked the Board to terminate Rector immediately.
Biltmore Forest Country Club responded on January 1, 2018 to Fender’s December 5th letter, The North State Journal reported, through its lawyer, Jon Yarbrough of the law firm Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP of Asheville. Yarbrough’s letter, addressed to Kellam Warren, said “the Board appreciates Ms. Fender’s long service to the club,” but that Fender’s demand for “the termination of Head Golf Professional Jon Rector is unacceptable.” Yarbrough’s letter also noted that Rector “has the full and continued support of the Board of Governors” and that “the club is not going to terminate his employment.”
When reached for comment by The North State Journal about Rodeia’s lawsuit, Yarbrough stated that the club “prevailed at the EEOC level” with respect to allegations by Rodeia and that the club had removed Rodeia’s lawsuit “to a federal court and filed the appropriate motion to dismiss.”
With respect to Fender’s lawsuit, Yarbrough said, “we are aware of it, but it hasn’t been served.”
The Kansas City Star reported that residents who live near The Kansas City Country Club (KCCC) in Mission Hills, Kan. have sued to stop the noise caused by the big rotating fan blades powered by electric motors and gasoline engines that are used by the club during the hot, muggy months of the year to fight fungus and other deterioriation of the putting surfaces.
Gary Mathews, whose backyard overlooks the 12th green and is a leading party to the complaint, told the Star that “I’ve lived right on the 12th green for 27 years, and they’ve never had a fan until this last summer. They’re horribly loud. They’re like living next to an airport.”
KCCC uses the fans on the advice of the United States Golf Association, the Star reported, and Mathews’ comparison to an “airport” may exaggerate the extent of the noise, at least according to decibel readings presented by the course’s Superintendent (Loren Breedlove) that were cited in Mathews’ filings in Johnson County District Court.
Those readings, Mathews’ filing said, claimed the gas-powered fans hit 77 decibels from 50 feet and the electric fans 60 decibels.
It’s a dramatic difference, the Star reported, with 70 decibels being twice as loud as 60. An equivalent noise for the gasoline-powered fan would be standing 50 feet from a highway at 10 a.m., according to figures cited by Purdue University. The electric fans are closer to the noise levels from restaurant conversations.
In its answer, the Star reported, KCCC notes that these noises are not enough to silence the fans based on legal tests that court rulings from other noise disputes have provided.
“While Mr. Mathews might think that sound is annoying, the alleged interference with his use of his property is not both substantial and unreasonable,” the club’s reply in the lawsuit said.
The club runs the fans between the first week of June and Labor Day and then “only on days when it is anticipated that ground temperatures will exceed 80 degrees, the air temperature will exceed 85 degrees or there is an excessive amount of moisture,” its filing said.
Fans have been suggested by the USGA as a way to improve conditions of greens, especially in “pocketed” areas, but the group also has acknowledged that the noise can be a nuisance to some golfers, the Star reported.
KCCC’s filing said its fans run only from sunup to sunset, per Mission Hills’ noise ordinance.
And, the club’s filing continues, it plans to get a city permit to run permanent electrical power to the 12th green and replace the noisier gasoline-powered portable fan with a quieter electric one. KCCC already has electric fans at 16 of its greens, the Star reported.
“Since the electric fans are quieter than the mobile gas-powered fan, when the new electric fan is installed on #12 green its sound will certainly have less effect on plaintiff [Mathews] and may not even be heard from his deck or travel inside his home,” KCCC’s filing said.
KCCC tried previously to install an electric fan on No. 12, the Star reported, but Mathews and others fought its pursuit of permits at the city’s Architectural Review Board and the club pulled its request, according to Mathews’ filings.
In those proceedings, according to Mathews’ filing, one resident described the situation as like having a diesel truck in the driveway, and another who works often at night said it disrupted daytime sleep. One resident said the noise “causes mental stress and frustration and impairs the use of his property.”
A trial is set for June 18, the Star reported, and the residents have hired their own acoustics expert.
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