A former vice president at Travel Leaders is alleging the company and its executives engaged in serious sexual misconduct during her time at the company.
Mai Meyaart worked at Travel Leaders Group from 2012 until July of 2017 in a number of capacities including as the Vice President of their hotel division. In February, Meyaart filed suit against the company alleging a number of serious acts of sexual harassment, discrimination and misconduct, including wage discrimination, wrongful termination and unwanted sexual advances.
CEO Ninan Chacko and Travel Leaders Network President John Lovell were also named in the suit.
The crux of the complaint derives from a February 2017 incident in which Meyaart describes meeting Lovell at the Boca Beach Club hotel where he allegedly used his position in the company and a potential advancement opportunity to leverage a sexual relationship. Upon rejecting his advances, advancement in the company never materialized as discussed.
Instead, according to passages from the suit, featured below, Meyaart alleges she was subjected to retaliation and wrongful termination.
"Notwithstanding her proven track record of success and competencies, Mrs. Meyaart was, at various times, passed over for promotions, demoted, underpaid, had bonuses reduced over time without justification, denied salary increases, denied equal pay, defamed, unfairly criticized, propositioned for sex, harassed, and ultimately wrongfully terminated without cause, etc."
"When she was terminated without cause, Mrs. Meyaart was never informed why Travel Leaders Group couldn't or didn't find another position for her in the Company."
In response to the allegations, a Travel Leaders Group spokesman provided the following statement to TravelPulse: "We have reviewed this case and we believe these claims to be meritless. We will vigorously defend that position and have no further comment on this litigation beyond our filing."
The 27-page complaint features six counts against the defendants and promises more examples of misconduct during subsequent stages of discovery and trial, specifically referencing the "#MeToo" social media trend in terms of what type of examples may be forthcoming.
The suit was filed in Palm Beach County and has since been moved to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Travel Leaders Group calls itself "the undisputed leader in travel" and claims to be approaching $21 billion per year in annual sales volume through over 40,000 travel agent professionals.
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