FRESNO - The Copper River Country Club was accused of employment discrimination and many other charges in an April 12 lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in the Fresno County Superior Court by plaintiff Lucy Wells, who was hired by the club as a part-time fitness instructor when it first opened in 1995.
During this time Wells said she had stellar job performance with no formal discipline.
Wells is 63 years old and was treated for breast cancer including a double mastectomy.
The plaintiff accuses the country club of refusing to accommodate for her lifelong lift restrictions after her surgery when the club's fitness center reopened its classes outdoors after the pandemic. The defendant set up propane heaters to provide comfort for the outdoor classes.
Wells says that employees of the country club demanded she change the tanks in the heaters for her classes despite the tanks being outside of her weight limits.
Wells alleges that she was ultimately terminated as a result of her requests for accommodations due to the disability that her cancer caused and was accused of faking having cancer at all by a human resources employee.
The country club is accused of violating the Fair Employment and Housing Act through disability discrimination, disability harassment, retaliation, failure to provide reasonable accommodation, failure to engage in interactive process, age discrimination and harassment, Labor Code Violations, wrongful termination, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Wells requests at least $25,000 in damages. She is represented by Baradat and Paboojian Inc. of Fresno.