Well, the drama ensues with the Fitness Director singling out (discriminating against) yet another great fitness instructor. In order for the director to (what I believe) remove anyone she feels is a threat or in competition with her, a single instructor received an email that she was going to be removed from payroll because the director AND the Human Resources Department came to the conclusion that the instructor had not covered any aerobic or cycling classes in several months.
This has never been a policy at that facility to remove someone from payroll for this reason and if it had changed, some sort of memo would have been circulated (email, written document, etc). This was not the case. Regardless, the instructor had taught many classes and had the pay stubs to prove it. She had taught classes and/or given personal training sessions in 2007 in July, August, September, October, November, and as recently as January 2008. She also attended the aerobic staff meetings. Not only was she paid for all these classes, her name would be on each and every cycling and aerobic attendance sheet to be paid. Therefore, there is no way that the Human Resources Department could come to such a conclusion (and I do not believe that they were involved in this at all). Also, if the fitness director did in fact review the records for the entire year or even the last few months, there is no way she could have missed ALL of the classes, meetings, and sessions (well over 15 of them).
Now, keep in mind that there are other instructors who have been on the sub list for a long time and haven’t actually taught a class in well over a year – no one else received this email concerning the removal from payroll! It’s quite obvious of the still discriminatory, unfair and unprofessional treatment going on at that facility.
Once the supporting documentation was emailed to the director, she reviewed the information and agreed that there was “some kind of error.” She also conceded that she was not aware of the most recent class the instructor had taught. To further the insult, the fitness director then tried to redefine what a sub is and said that it only counts when a regularly scheduled instructor specifically asks for a class to be covered and that the director must be notified of this change for it “to count.” So, if I was an instructor already at the facility and another instructor didn’t show up to teach his/her class and I covered it, that wouldn’t count? What the hell? At the closing of the email, the director ended by saying that the “sub” status could be eliminated in the future.
Obviously, this instructor wanted to talk to the CEO and did so toward the end of January 2008. She resigned because of all this drama and unfair treatment and because she believed that this would continue as long as the Fitness Director was around. Rather than trying to do something about this, the CEO agreed that she (as most of us had already experienced and resigned) would be subject to this treatment! Again, what the hell?
As I documented in a previous post concerning the letter I received from the facility to remove references/logos from my web site after my departure, this instructor asked that her name and image be removed from all marketing materials. She also indicated that she didn’t want paid for her last class in January and would consider it a volunteer contribution to the members. As of this posting, they are still using both her name and image.
It might be time to give that place a little of its own medicine… Can anyone say Law Suit?
