Thread: MALDEF Sues 24 Hour Fitness

Latino civil rights group: Gym chain discriminates

The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2010 - 2:00 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2010 - 2:45 pm

LOS ANGELES -- A Latino civil rights organization sued an international gym chain on Tuesday, accusing 24 Hour Fitness of racial and gender discrimination against its workers in California.

The lawsuit filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a law firm claimed that black, Latino, Asian and female staffers systematically hit glass ceilings when they applied for management jobs at some of the company's approximately 200 California clubs.

"When they ask to apply for promotions, they're given the run-around or given a moving target," said Victor Viramontes, MALDEF's lead attorney. "They say they have to hit their (sales) goals for the month to get a promotion, but they meet those goals and they're never promoted."

The gym chain denied the lawsuit allegations Tuesday and said it expected to prevail in court.

The suit claimed the company has no uniform criteria for promotions but instead allows regional vice presidents to make such decisions in a "subjective and arbitrary process." It claimed that those executives are mainly white men.

The suit alleged that nonwhite managers are paid at a lower rate.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks lost wages and unspecified punitive damages.

It claimed the fitness club violated state anti-discrimination laws and seeks class-action status, which would allow it to represent an estimated 10,000 California employees of the fitness chain.

The company said in a statement it is "deeply committed to providing a work environment that is free from unlawful discrimination and retaliation" and "makes its hiring and promotional decisions without regard to race, national origin, gender or any other protected basis."

Based in San Ramon, 24 Hour Fitness has about 400 clubs in 17 states, as well as several locations in Asia. According to its website, the company is owned by Forstmann Little & Co., a New York-based private equity firm.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/13/288784 ... z0tbu4sDBk

The 24 Hour Fitness gym we train at had a black operations manager two years ago and has had a Hispanic manager since then. Most of the sales people and personal trainers are Hispanic and black and the sales manager is Hispanic. Sounds like another attempt of a racist group to blackmail a big Corporation out of money. Heck, our club even had a illegal alien working for them as a custodian last summer.

Some Corporate Shakedown by a racist organization? Where have we seen that before? lol

Originally Posted by Tbow009

Some Corporate Shakedown by a racist organization? Where have we seen that before? lol

Ditto! Maybe someone should bring a discrimination suit against la raza, since 10 of 11 of their executive officers are hispanic. No whites or blacks to speak of!

But I guess when you're a hispanic supremacy group that calls yourself "the race," you are insulated from these issues.

They sure make a lot of friends don't they? Keep suing people and pissing
them off and see where it gets you.

Def

Originally Posted by defaoite62

They sure make a lot of friends don't they? Keep suing people and pissing
them off and see where it gets you.

Def

Kind of like Jessie Jackson's Rainbow Coalition which does nothing but strong arm businesses. If this was the mafia doing the same thing the FBI would be all over it.

Give us money or we will sue you and protest against you.....
That sounds like a shakedown..

Insists there are 25 hours in a day and 57 states.