The fitness club's trainer has filed a lawsuit against Life Time for arrears in wages.
Alicia Schaeffer, a former Yoga teacher in the Life Time group, is suing her employer for unpaid work that she and other instructors are said to be doing before and after class. Schaeffer filed a lawsuit with Life District Inc. at the U.S. District Court, alleging that she and other group hourly fitness trainers did not work outside of their official hours for about eight years while working for Life Time's Bloomington North fitness facility were paid. ”The plaintiffs' lawyers are seeking class action status for the case, and a judge must determine whether the case can continue as a class action.
“In addition to teaching 60 minutes of class time, the applicant, as a group fitness instructor, had to do work that preceded and followed each of her yoga classes. All group fitness trainers have to work in a similar way before and after class, ”wrote Schaeffer's lawyers in the complaint.
Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash
"Life Time's instructor's manual states that the trainers are expected to be in the studio 15 minutes before class and that music will be played from their own curated playlists," court documents said. "The instructors are also asked to clean up after class, e.g. B. Collect towels and stack mats. Overall, group teachers have to complete a number of tasks outside of class without being paid, e.g. B. Wipe equipment, arrange props, and attend training sessions. "
The lawsuit was filed a day after Life Time executives announced to the Department of Employment and Economic Development in Minnesota that approximately 300 employees would have to be made redundant, "due to the economic pressure from the closure of gyms due to the coronavirus outbreak arises ".
Club spokeswoman Natalie Bushaw made a statement when the release was announced, saying, “When we closed, we hoped the clubs would reopen quickly. It then took almost three months for about two-thirds of our clubs to reopen, with uncertainty about when the remaining third of the clubs would reopen. These downtimes had a significant negative financial impact on our company, along with the hiring of nearly four years of new club and business development. In addition, it may take a few months for membership growth and traffic to return to normal. With this unforeseen business interruption and impact, we have taken difficult but necessary measures to reduce our operating costs, including a 1 percent reduction in our total workforce. The vast majority of these impacts affect our real estate, architecture and construction departments as the development of new clubs and businesses is temporarily stopped. All team members have the option to maintain their Life Time Club membership provided by the company through December 31, 2020. In addition, those currently participating in our medical and dental care have the option to maintain these benefits through December 31, 2020 at the company's expense. ”
Regarding the lawsuit, she replied, "We intend to defend ourselves vigorously and to stand by our employment practices."
Life Time operates more than 150 health clubs in 41 markets across the United States. A total of 301 Coronavirus workers are fired, including 250 at headquarters and another 51 at Life Time's Millwork facilities in Chaska.
Swell:
Life Time is accused of fitness trainer for allegedly unpaid hours
Lifetime for the dismissal of 301 employees in the midst of a pandemic
