luciacovelli
Junior Member
Massachusetts
I was denied membership at a golf course open to the public. I worked as a gardening at this course for 12 years. After a personal dispute with the Superintendent, my boss and a personal friend for 15 yrs, he fired me without notice. As an independent contractor, I did not have any legal rights under employment law. (The argument concerned my asking him to return a sum of money I gave him for safekeeping. He claimed he did not owe me this money, in spite of my having a canceled check to prove this. After being fired, I was forced to file a lawsuit against him for collection of this debt.)
A few months after my termination, I tried to buy a season membership, which was denied by the Director of Golf, who said my presence would make my former boss "uncomfortable". He also said that if he allowed my membership, my former boss would make HIS life hell. I told him I thought it was illegal to refuse me a membership, as this is a semi-private course, open to the public, and advertising the availability of memberships. Personally, he was sympathetic, but said the golf club had the right to deny membership to "disgruntled former employees" .. and has done so in the past (though allowing this same former employee to use the course on a pay-for-play basis).
I have done nothing which can be viewed as "undesirable" to justify denial of membership.. Quite the contrary.. Do I have any legal grounds to stand on? I have not been able to obtain a copy of the club's bylaws, but if they maintain the right to deny membership to "undesirables", they cannot make such claims against me.. unless they LIE, which is not beneath my former boss to do. I am a 56 yr. old single woman, live alone in a tiny apartment. I single-handedly designed, planted and maintained all flowerbeds at this course, which certainly raised its level of desirability. I worked for a salary and devoted 12 years of my life beautifying a landscape I treated as if it were my own.
I was denied membership at a golf course open to the public. I worked as a gardening at this course for 12 years. After a personal dispute with the Superintendent, my boss and a personal friend for 15 yrs, he fired me without notice. As an independent contractor, I did not have any legal rights under employment law. (The argument concerned my asking him to return a sum of money I gave him for safekeeping. He claimed he did not owe me this money, in spite of my having a canceled check to prove this. After being fired, I was forced to file a lawsuit against him for collection of this debt.)
A few months after my termination, I tried to buy a season membership, which was denied by the Director of Golf, who said my presence would make my former boss "uncomfortable". He also said that if he allowed my membership, my former boss would make HIS life hell. I told him I thought it was illegal to refuse me a membership, as this is a semi-private course, open to the public, and advertising the availability of memberships. Personally, he was sympathetic, but said the golf club had the right to deny membership to "disgruntled former employees" .. and has done so in the past (though allowing this same former employee to use the course on a pay-for-play basis).
I have done nothing which can be viewed as "undesirable" to justify denial of membership.. Quite the contrary.. Do I have any legal grounds to stand on? I have not been able to obtain a copy of the club's bylaws, but if they maintain the right to deny membership to "undesirables", they cannot make such claims against me.. unless they LIE, which is not beneath my former boss to do. I am a 56 yr. old single woman, live alone in a tiny apartment. I single-handedly designed, planted and maintained all flowerbeds at this course, which certainly raised its level of desirability. I worked for a salary and devoted 12 years of my life beautifying a landscape I treated as if it were my own.
