A former Housekeeping Director at a prestigious New Orleans hotel has filed a lawsuit alleging age discrimination after being terminated from her position. Elaine Eubanks, the plaintiff, lodged the complaint against Park Hotels & Resorts Inc., formerly known as Hilton Worldwide Inc., and Hilton Hotel Employer LLC in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on June 28, 2024.
Elaine Eubanks, who had served as the Housekeeping Director at The Roosevelt Hotel for nearly fifteen years, claims she was unjustly fired due to her age on March 2, 2023. Despite being highly regarded by her peers and consistently receiving top performance ratings, Eubanks alleges that hotel management falsely labeled her termination as a "retirement" and replaced her with younger employees. This move came shortly after she received an unwarranted Final Written Warning from Cole Wallace, the Hotel Manager, which marked her first disciplinary action in over a decade of service.
Eubanks’ complaint details how she was targeted by Wallace because of her age. On December 8, 2022, Wallace issued a Final Written Warning to Eubanks for coaching an employee who had been regularly late and absent from work. Eubanks had chosen not to terminate this employee due to her difficult personal circumstances but instead opted for verbal coaching. Despite this compassionate approach aligning with company policies, Wallace imposed severe discipline on Eubanks.
The situation escalated during Eubanks' annual performance review on February 16, 2023, when Wallace asked about her retirement plans and subsequently rated her performance lower than it had been in eight years. Just two weeks later, General Manager Tod Chambers demanded that Eubanks resign or be fired based on concerns she had raised months earlier about Wallace's alleged inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. Notably, younger employees who participated in similar discussions were not disciplined.
Following her termination, Chambers informed staff that Eubanks had retired and subsequently replaced her with Travis Paisant and later Veronica Castro—both significantly younger than Eubanks. Even after being dismissed, Eubanks continued to receive recognition for her contributions to the hotel industry.
Eubanks' lawsuit asserts that the defendants violated both federal and state laws prohibiting age discrimination in employment. Specifically, she cites violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) and Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law (LEDL). The complaint seeks various forms of relief including declaratory judgment, injunctive relief such as reinstatement or front pay/benefits if reinstatement is not feasible, compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress, liquidated damages due to willful conduct by the defendants, attorney’s fees and costs, pre-and post-judgment interest among other remedies deemed just by the court.
Representing Elaine Eubanks are attorneys Casey Rose Denson and Mercedes Townsend from Casey Denson Law LLC. The case ID is: 2:24-cv-01656.