BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bartender Terri Yockey feared assistant manager Jerry Stinnett after accusing him of sexual harassment at Kings Island Inn, "and retaliation was what she got," attorney Bruce Whitman told a federal jury Monday in Cincinnati.
The trial began Monday in Ms. Yockey's sex harassment suit filed against three firms involved in the ownership and management of the Mason hotel: Lane Industries Inc. of Northbrook, Ill.; its management subsidiary, Lane Hotels Inc.; and their Lane Kings Island Inn Limited Partnership.
Mr. Stinnett was suspended for seven days without pay and demoted after Ms. Yockey's complaint, Mr. Whitman told the jury, but he was still her supervisor and he harassed her until she couldn't stand it and resigned.
"It was intolerable. . . . They were trying to make her quit." Mr. Whitman's opening statement cataloged what Ms. Yockey said were years of Mr. Stinnett's unwanted touching, rubbing and lewd remarks in the sexually charged atmosphere of the hotel lounge where she was a bartender.
The retaliation was in response to Ms. Yockey's complaints as well as her support of Lynn Henderer, a former Kings Island Inn co-worker, whose similar sexual harassment suit was settled before trial.
Ms. Yockey, of Maineville, started at Kings Island Inn in 1989, resigned in mid-1995, went to work in a nearby country club, and sued.
Defense attorney Jill O'Shea denied sexual harassment and retaliation.
Ms. O'Shea focused on what she said were six years of tardiness and absenteeism and said Ms. Yockey's chronic problems, not retaliation or harassment, led to poor performance reviews and reduced responsibilities. She pooh-poohed suggestions that Ms. Yockey was fearful and suffered from the sometimes raucous banter in the bar -- and said Ms. Yockey spent three years in counseling without mentioning sexual harassment.
Further, Ms. O'Shea said, Ms. Yockey was aware of Lane's "open door" complaint policy but didn't use it until she'd been at Kings Island Inn for five years.
When Ms. Yockey finally complained to Lane that Mr. Stinnett and manager Jim Ellison were showing around stolen nude photos of a female co-worker, corporate officials flew to Mason and sorted out the problems.
Mr. Ellison and Mr. Stinnett no longer are at Kings Island Inn. The trial resumes today before Magistrate Judge Timothy S. Hogan.
