Sun Valley, ID – A 35-year employee of Sun Valley has sued the Idaho ski resort in U.S. District Court, alleging sexual harassment and age discrimination.
The Idaho Statesman reports that Ann Erickson was 59 and a supervisor in the resort’s ski school when her employment was terminated in October 2012. Ten months earlier, Erickson suffered a fractured pelvis and sacrum on the job and was not medically cleared to return to duty until February 2013, the lawsuit contends.
Erickson’s litigation alleges that her request for modified duty to accommodate her temporary disability was denied. Furthermore, she accuses ski school director Allan Patzer, her manager since 2008, of a pattern of repeated sexual and age-based discrimination, including one occasion when she claims that Patzer called her a “slut” in front of fellow ski school supervisors.
Erickson alleges that Sun Valley’s human resource department declined to pursue her allegations regarding Patzer. She filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2010 and three more with the the Idaho Human Rights Commission.
Sun Valley officials have declined comment, citing the pending litigation.