A former employee and prominent local publicist is suing the Birchwood in downtown St. Pete for age discrimination. Susan Robertson, 66, had served as the boutique hotel’s senior banquet sales manager for about a year according to a lawsuit filed in Pinellas County courts.
As such she was responsible for managing weddings and various other group events.
Robertson is the former spokesperson for the St. Pete Pier and was known as “Susan from the Pier” as such. She currently works as the director of marketing for the St. Pete Museum of Fine Arts.
Robertson alleges she was “pretextually terminated” after a new general manager, Angela Meeker, began heading the hotel. The lawsuit claims Meeker immediately began replacing any older staff including those in their 50s or 60s with younger employees in their 20s to early 30s.
Robertson claims a 61-year-old concierge was replaced by a 21-year-old. She named the older employee as Ronald MacDougall and his replacement, Tim Columbus. According to Robertson, all of the other concierge staff are young women in their 20s.
Part of Robertson’s argument is an email exchange between herself and Birchwood owner Chuck Prather. In an email, Robertson asks Prather for a letter or reference “due to the fact that [she] was not let go for poor job performance or work ethic.” In a response from Prather, he responded in the affirmative.
The Birchwood is at the center of downtown St. Pete’s bustling Beach Drive. It includes one of the area’s top happy hour spots for many young professionals in the area – the Canopy rooftop lounge. Its restaurant, Birch & Vine, earned a spot in the Tampa Bay Times Top 50 restaurants.
St. Pete is increasingly taking strides to attract a younger demographic. The city’s newly created downtown waterfront master plan includes components geared toward “millenials” and the Pier Park design concept slated to replace the now toppled inverted pyramid is also a nod to younger users.
It’s not clear, however, whether Robertson has enough evidence to prove age discrimination. According to Meeker’s LinkdIn bio she left as General Manager of the Birchwood after 10 months. Her profile claims she now works as the food and beverage manager at Hotel Zamora.
