| SANTA CLARA, Calif - Dec. 14, 1998--Bohn Bohn LLP today
announced that a former director of Owner Referrals of Trendwest Resorts
(one of the largest time share companies in the world) has alleged in a
suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., that he was sexually
harassed by the female director of Human Resources, herself, then he was
retaliated against for rejecting her advances.
The former director, James Markman, of Sunnyvale, Calif., claims that
the director of Human Resources, a woman, made sexual advances to him,
as she had done to other male employees of the company. Markman alleges
that certain sexual improprieties occurred at a Trendwest Resort Annual
Leadership Conference in October 1997, at the World Mark Resort in Leavenworth,
Wash. The company's executive vice president was alleged to be present
and a witness to the sexual harassment while it was occurring.
The suit alleges that within two months after his rejection of the sexual
advances of his superior he was demoted from his $100,000 a year job as
a director to a lower-level $40,000 a year manager's position. Markman,
several years before, had initiated the concept of owner referrals and
had built it into an integral part of Trendwest's business, bringing millions
in additional revenues to the company.
Trendwest Resorts, a publicly traded company is a division of Jeld-Wen
of Klamath Falls, Ore. Trendwest Resorts is headquartered in Bellevue,
Wash., and sells time shares throughout the west. World Mark Resorts operates
resorts in the U.S., Canada, Hawaii, and Mexico. Markman served in the
Santa Clara office of Trendwest.
The suit alleges that the company's retaliatory actions against Markman
have forced Markman out of the company after over six years of service.
He is seeking damages for sexual harassment, retaliation and constructive
wrongful discharge. |