Bardstown Bourbon wants ‘scandalous’ gender bias complaint out of public record
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Court will hear Bardstown Bourbon motion to seal former HR VP’s complaint March 18.
- Company says complaint reveals confidential employee details and may violate NDA.
- Plaintiff alleges bias, slurs, racist hiring and six exec firings; defendants deny claims.
Bardstown Bourbon Co., which was sued last month by its former human resources vice president over gender bias, is moving to strike the complaint from the public record.
The motion is scheduled to be heard March 18 in Nelson Circuit Court, where the lawsuit was filed.
The company said in a motion that the complaint by Sylvia Sanders “is beset with redundant, immaterial, impertinent and scandalous content” that violates Sanders’ non-disclosure agreement as well as her professional responsibilities.
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed Feb. 13, Sanders accused CEO Mark Erwin and others of creating a toxic workplace rife with issues including gender bias, homophobia and racist hiring practices, among other things. According to the lawsuit, she was among six female executives fired or forced out by Erwin just a few years after he took over the spirits company in 2019.
Erwin and Bardstown Bourbon have disputed the allegations in statements to the Herald-Leader.
The company said Sanders’ filing improperly included “gratuitous allegations ... designed in this way to facilitate local and national media interest” such as “confidential experiences at BBC.”
“The inclusion of these allegations and the unmasking of non-party employees was, therefore, impertinent, immaterial, and scandalous and clearly imposed for an improper purpose,” the company said.
What the whiskey company whistleblower lawsuit says
Sanders disclosed confidential information from employee files, the company said, that “are so scandalous (and untrue) that they could foreseeably cause harm to these non-parties, all of whom are BBC’s current of former employees.”
The accusations include that one male supervisor was accused of being a “sexual predator” by a female subordinate; he and another employee also are accused of separate incidents of drunk driving, according to the complaint. The BBC said in its filing that it “refutes these allegations and Sanders’ characterization of the personnel matters.”
Sanders said she was fired after delivering a memo, compiled at Erwin’s request, or so she thought, that included numerous issues she had identified in the company. After she was fired, she attempted to go over Erwin’s head and delivered the information to Bardstown Bourbon Company’s owner, Pritzker Private Capital, which was also named in Erwin’s lawsuit.
Pritzker Capital is owned by the prominent wealthy real estate family that includes Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gov. Pritzker is not actively involved in the company.
Both versions of the memo and accompanying emails were part of Sanders’ original filing.
But Bardstown Bourbon Co. alleges Sanders’ could have filed her lawsuit without making public the memos or the specifics of the pattern of bias that she alleges.
“Rather, the gratuitous inclusion of these allegations was an intentional decision by Sanders designed to create media interest and to put pressure on the Defendants to avoid the airing of disputed ‘dirty laundry,’” Bardstown Bourbon said.
“These employees’ experiences do not describe harassment or discrimination that Sanders experienced, or which forms the basis of Sanders’ claims. Rather, this information came to her as the Vice President of Human Resources, which she was responsible to investigate and keep confidential.”
Sanders has not filed a response to the motion yet.
Founded in 2014, Bardstown Bourbon Co. is part of Lofted Spirits, along with Green River Distilling. Together, the company is now one of the largest distillers in Kentucky, specializing in contract distilling, bottling and other third-party services.
