Latino civil rights group alleges racial, gender discrimination in suit against gym chain

Latino civil rights group: Gym chain discriminates

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.