A manager who was fired from President Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club has filed an explosive lawsuit detailing horrific conditions, reported The Daily Beast on Friday, and noting that even Trump himself was disgusted by the state of the facility.
"The president was dragged into the state of the $350,000-a-year New Jersey club in a lawsuit brought by a fired manager, who claims she was forced out of her job for flagging the dire health violations at the New Jersey club’s clubhouse bistro restaurant," reported Laura Esposito. According to the report, the lawsuit claims the club "had maggots and mold in [Trump's] favorite self-serve ice cream, while it employed drunk kitchen staff and lecherous managers who drunkenly phoned female wait staff to demand they come to their homes late at night."
Trump went out of his way to complain about the state of the kitchen, per the suit, particularly about the infestation of flies.
The suit also alleges that when the manager, Justine Sacks, arrived for her first day of work, her boss, general manager David Schutzenhofer, told her that fellow assistant manager Raul Sicoe had "an issue with women," that Sicoe completely ignored her on shift to the point of not even looking at her, that she was instructed to only hire women with a particular "look," and that when she called HR to complain about managers propositioning employees, Schutzenhofer berated her and called her a "miserable person."
In the suit's account, she tried to raise alarms about a number of health violations, including pests and mold, drunken employees, employees smoking in the kitchen, food being served past its expiration date, and an incident in which the club's bistro had no running water for a whole day. However, after a health inspector flagged 18 violations and gave the facility the worst grade in the county, she was the one fired.
“Ms. Sacks was targeted because she refused to stay silent about sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and serious health and safety violations that put employees and patrons at risk,” wrote Sacks' attorney.
Trump's properties have faced similar allegations in the past. In 2017, his Mar-a-Lago resort was cited for 13 health code violations in the kitchen — including failure to treat raw fish for parasites and failing to properly refrigerate ham — just as the Japanese prime minister was set to visit.