Gym Ordered to Pay $11.25 Million for Racial Injustice After Trainer Gets Fired for Being Late 47 Times

If you are a businessman with employees, this might make your blood boil. If this is “racial injustice,” then this country will be in trouble.

In just 10 months, a newly hired trainer at an Upper East Side gym in New York City showed up 47 times late to work before being fired. The trainer sued her former employer, which led to a court judgment that ordered the gym franchise to pay her damages of  $11.25 million.

The New York Times has more.

Robynn Europe was a professional bodybuilder who worked for Equinox in the Upper East Side between 2018 and 2019. She managed personal trainers. Only one Black student was in her class. She was not prepared for the crass and unfiltered prejudice of male colleagues at an expensive gym whose air was filled with the smell of eucalyptus or the base notes to enlightenment.

Ms. Europe was only employed at the club for a short time. Equinox terminated the employment of Ms. Europe after less than a month because the company claimed that she had been late 47 times over the course of 10 months. Ms. Europe had a different perspective on her dismissal, believing her tardiness was just a pretext for discrimination. She filed a suit in Manhattan federal court shortly after, claiming that she’d been subjected to a hostile workplace and let go due to her race and gender.

A predominantly white jury, consisting of five women, and three men, reached a unanimous verdict last week in just over an hour. They awarded her damages of $11.25 Million the next day.

The speed of the jury decision and the amount of money awarded — $10 million in punitive damages, and $1.25 for emotional distress — are similar to those reached just a few months earlier in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against Donald J. Trump in the same courthouse.

Both the process and the outcome of the two cases suggest ways that recent social movements that have transformed the perceptions around race and gender could reframe juries’ thinking about the emotional turmoil that can be caused by bigotry and sexual violence.

“Transformative social movement around race and gender.” Translated: Blatant discrimination against people of color and non-conservative females, as well as the LGBTQ community. The left-wing NYT, which is known for “All the News That Fits to Print”, continues to support every bit of this.

Ms. Europe said exactly what she thought we would expect — and what the writer wanted because she probably believes the same nonsense:

In the fitness industry, racism and sexism are everywhere. You can train without a college degree in coastal cities and earn $75 per hour. People of color are attracted to this because there aren’t many opportunities.

Note: The above quote does not mention race or racism in the slightest. What is the issue?

Equinox Gyms, to its credit, didn’t fall on its sword and beg forgiveness. It also did not profess that it had seen the BLM in a new light. Instead, the gym made a pathetic promise to end its “racist” acts.

The company issued a statement saying it “vehemently disapproved” of the ruling and that it does not “tolerate any form of discrimination.” Eqionox also filed a motion to the court asking for a reconsideration, either through a new trial or a reduced award.

The lawyers for the company maintained that jurors were “guided by emotion and sympathy” and had “erroneously “believed the plaintiffs’ claim of being a victim of “racial hatred,” and that she suffered “extreme and unconscionable damage,” as a consequence.

It’s not as Amazing as it sounds

Imagine arriving late for a job 47 times within 10 months. Would you be fired by your employer? Would you, as an employer, be justified in terminating a new employee who is always late? In both cases, the answer is a resounding yes.

You’re right, “racial Justice” is a thing.

You may have thought that this situation is similar to the case of lowering or eliminating graduation requirements from high school. Me, too. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered in 2021 the elimination of all math, reading, and writing proficiency standards. Did reducing the ability of students to compete at a college level provide educational justice? Again, nada.

Conclusion:

There are many real questions here that cannot be answered by “soft bigotry” or low expectations, which is ultimately harmful to those who claim to help.

What is the ugly, non-secret truth? Democrat legislators know that everything I said is true but they still don’t care. Why?

The “racial injustice” band continues to play.