✍🏾: @lexisryann
Fitness trainer and former bodybuilder Röbynn Europe was awarded $11.25 million in damages in a discrimination lawsuit she brought against luxury fitness chain, Equinox.
Europe worked as an Equinox personal trainer manager between 2018 and 2019 at an Upper East Side gym in New York City, but she was terminated in 2019 over the company’s claims that she was regularly late to work.
In response to her firing, Europe filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in September 2022. She claimed she was subjected to a hostile work environment and was fired because of her race and gender.
“Racism and sexism — they are just pervasive in the fitness industry,” Europe told The New York Times during an interview about her case.
The case included allegations that a manager who reported to Europe made negative comments about Black women and their bodies.
Europe also alleged the manager called employees who weren’t white “lazy.” Europe testified that these instances — along with other intense issues at the gym — caused her severe emotional and physical distress.
Her all-female legal team stressed her male bosses ignored her attempts to alert them about these issues.
During the case, her team also delivered a chart showing the lateness patterns of other gym employees who didn’t face as harsh consequences as Europe for being late. #Boom! Get your bag, sis! #BWLM💕
