Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and the Division on Civil Rights announced today that Planet Fitness Ewing has paid a former employee $25,000 to resolve allegations that the health club discriminated against her -- first by denying her a promotion, then by dismissing her for an infraction other employees had committed without being fired.
In addition to paying former employee Rachel Bronner $25,000, Planet Fitness Ewing also must provide the Division with evidence of a current anti-harassment/anti-discrimination policy, and must arrange training on the policy for all management and supervisory staff at the health club.
Bronner, a Trenton resident who is African-American, worked for Planet Fitness Ewing from June 2012 through early March of 2013. In May 2013 she filed a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that she was wrongly passed over for a promotion and subsequently terminated because of her race and gender.
EEOC investigated Bronner’s complaint and determined that she had been discriminated against on the basis of race and gender, but the matter was transferred to the Division on Civil Rights under a work sharing agreement. The Division subsequently reviewed the case and issued a Finding of Probable Cause that Bronner had been the victim of discrimination, with age and marital status added to the EEOC findings.