Old Ranch Country Club has been hit with a lawsuit by a former employee who is alleging years of sexual harassment from members of the club, as well as her supervisors.
Peyton Stover, 26, says she was hired as a beverage cart server in or around April of 2019, when she was 23 years old. The suit cites 16 complaints, ranging from assault, sexual harassment, and hostile work environment, to failure to provide meal and rest breaks and failure to pay overtime wages.
The complaint names Old Ranch Country Club, as well as its parent company ClubCorp as defendants. It also personally names employees James Poper and Mitchel Queen as defendants, along with “Does” 1 thru 100 for individual club members. Old Ranch has not made any statements about the lawsuit. General Manager Frank Herrera confirmed by email that the club “cannot comment on open legal proceedings.”
Among the complaints, it is alleged that Stover was grabbed by a member of the club, who shoved her onto a golf cart and “bent her over in a sexual manner without her consent,” the complaint states.
The complaint alleges that Stover complained to Poper about the egregious and ongoing conduct, but that he informed her that he was not going to do anything about it because ‘members pay too much money to become members.’
The complaint also alleges that Poper contributed to the harassment work environment by flirting with Stover in an inappropriate manner, including messaging her and asking what color underwear she was wearing.
The complaint details several specific incidents, referring to members only by initials. Stover claims that by May of 2021 she’d had enough and brought her complaints to Queen ‘one last time.’ The complaint alleges that Queen refused to address her complaints. In or around June 2021, Stover resigned.
According to court documents, a case management conference is scheduled with the judge for June 30.
