Candlemaker CEO faces sexual harassment suits
Three former employees of Wells-based Village Candle are suing the company’s president and founder, Paul Aldrich, over allegations of sexual harassment and other counts in separate lawsuits.
The Portland Press Herald reported the three lawsuits were filed last week in U.S. District Court in Portland by Cynthia Rowe, former vice president of sales and marketing; her daughter Cassie Laughlin, a former retail sales manager; and Heidi MacDonald, a former debt collector for the company. They are being represented by the Kennebunk-based law firm Bergen & Parkinson.
The lawsuits accuse Aldrich of sexual harassment, assault and battery, retaliation, inappropriate touching and numerous federal and state labor violations.
“Village Candle was aware that Aldrich had a well-established, pervasive pattern of grossly inappropriate sexual harassment of female employees,” says each complaint, which contains some duplicate language describing the company’s alleged culture of sexual harassment.
While Laughlin quit Village Candle in December 2012, Rowe and MacDonald were fired in November 2012 and July 2013, respectively, each after requesting medical leave that had been approved by the company, the complaints say.
Aldrich did not respond to requests for comment by the Press Herald, but his attorney, Stephen Langsdorf of Preti Flaherty, told the newspaper on Monday that Aldrich “denies that there was any sexual harassment involving any of the claimants in this case. Once the case is litigated, it will show that the women acted in collusion with each other.”
Village Candle in 2011 consolidated its manufacturing and distribution facilities in Topsham and Gardiner and relocated to Wells, where it employs 50 people, according to court documents.
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