A Hood River resident filed suit against her former employer, Bonneville Hot Springs, in Skamania County this week alleging that the resort’s former owner sexually harassed her and countless others at two business locations in North Bonneville and Carson, Wash.
The lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and assault and battery was filed on Jan. 23 in Skamania County Superior Court in Stevenson, Wash., by Vancouver, Wash., attorneys Greg Ferguson and Jack Green on behalf of Hood River resident Holly Nelson.
According to a press release by Ferguson and Green’s offices, the state court complaint lays out a pattern of sexual harassment and sexual assault toward Nelson and other female employees by the company’s owner, Purfil “Pete” Cam.
The suit states that Cam initiated “unwanted touching, embracing and fondling” of Nelson, including “pushing up against her and rubbing his clothed erect penis on her backside.”
Nelson, previously employed at Bonneville as a message therapist, ultimately left employment in early 2016 because of the relentless harassment by Cam and the alleged failure of General Manager Marfa Sheratski to do anything to stop it, said a press release.
The lawsuit asserts that Cam engaged in “a serial pattern of sex discrimination and sexual harassment toward at least a dozen female subjects over a period of years” at the two business locations owned and operated by defendants Cam and Sheratski, according to a press release.
The lawsuit further alleges that “Sheratski aided, abetted and incited discrimination, retaliated against women who complained, and failed to take any meaningful remedial action to prevent Cam’s sexually aggressive and predatory conduct toward women employees, and actively worked to conceal a pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation by defendants spanning a period of years,” according to a press release.
“This is a truly egregious case involving a pattern of abuse that, despite prior enforcement efforts, has continued unchecked,” said Green in a press release.
“In vacation communities like these, jobs are often seasonal and can be scarce, so women are typically afraid to come forward. We are confident that this lawsuit will afford Holly Nelson and other women like her a public voice and a means to safely come forward and tell their stories without fear of reprisal.”
No dollar amount is listed in the lawsuit, the press release stated, but Nelson is claiming damages for emotional distress, lost wages and attorneys’ fees, and for assault and battery.
Bonneville Hot Springs was sued previously over Cam’s sexual harassment of female employees in July 2007 by lawyers for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC suit was settled for $470,000, said a press release, together with an agreement that Bonneville would issue a new internal EEO policy barring further discrimination and retaliation against female employees, and a promise to conduct annual sexual harassment training for all employees and managers for three years following the settlement.
“The evidence uncovered so far suggests that despite their prior legal troubles, Mr. Cam and Ms. Sheratski have not changed their ways,” said Ferguson.
“We are confident that, not unlike before, multiple women will come forward to assist in painting a disturbing picture of a near 15-year pattern of Mr. Cam treating female employees as if their bodies belonged to him.”
Nelson also filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC in December 2016.
Bonneville Hot Springs was sold in the fall of 2016 shortly after its owners learned of Nelson’s allegations “as a means to avoid corporate liability, transferring all or a substantial portion of the profits of the sale to themselves individually” and to Carson Hot Springs Resort, said a press release.
Bonneville Hot Springs has since been permenantly closed. Carson Hot Springs Resort is still open.
Following a year-long investigation, the EEOC concluded that reasonable cause existed to conclude that sex discrimination had occurred, said a press release; and the EEOC was poised to sue on behalf of Nelson and a class of other female employees this December, but the still ongoing federal government shutdown prevented that from happening, said a press release.
Whether the agency lawyers will pick up where they left off and file suit in federal court once the government reopens is unknown at this time, said Ferguson.
The News was unable to reach Cam and Sheratski’s legal representatives for comment before press time.
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