Vancouver-based Vesta Hospitality has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a former employee against one of its subsidiaries, according to an April 17 report in the Bend Bulletin newspaper.
Vesta is a hotel developer and operator with a portfolio of three dozen past and current hotel projects, including the planned AC Hotel by Marriott at the Port of Vancouver’s Terminal 1 development site near the Waterfront Vancouver.
The Bulletin reports that Matthew J. Armstead, a former assistant housekeeping manager at the Vesta-owned Riverhouse on the Deschutes hotel in Bend, Ore., alleged in an April 10 lawsuit that he was terminated in 2018 after reporting that his boss had discriminated against multiple Hispanic employees.
Vesta referred questions about the lawsuit to the public relations firm Lane Finn Partners. In an email, managing partner Wendy Lane confirmed the existence of the lawsuit, but denied Armstrong’s allegations.
According to the Bulletin’s report, Armstead’s lawsuit claims that he was demoted in retaliation for taking his complaints to Vesta’s human resources department and senior leadership team. He subsequently filed a complaint with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries.
