On March 9, Alameda County (California) Superior Court Judge Paul D. Herbert granted preliminary approval to the settlement of two wage and hour class and representative actions against Equinox Holdings Inc. that would require Equinox to pay $36 million to the plaintiffs, pending final approval by the court, according to a media release from Makarem & Associates APLC, which represented the plaintiffs in the suit.
The two cases are Renee Porter, et al. v. Equinox Holdings, Inc., and Frank J. Fodera, Jr., et al. v. Equinox Holdings, Inc.
Filed in the Alameda County Superior Court in California, the Porter case was an action under California’s Private Attorneys’ General Act, which allows employee lawsuits seeking civil penalties for State of California for Labor Code violations. The Fodera case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, was a class action brought under California’s Labor Code.
The Fodera action was consolidated with the Porter action for settlement purposes.
The settlement covers more than 15,000 employees who worked for Equinox in California between April 3, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2022. The lawsuits alleged Equinox had a policy of not paying certain California employees, including personal trainers, group fitness instructors and other positions, for all time worked. Plaintiffs also challenged Equinox’s policies regarding meal and rest breaks, wage statements, and other wage and hour practices.
Preliminary approval means that the court has determined the settlement terms negotiated by both sides were fair, according to Samuel Almon, lead counsel and co-principal for Makarem & Associates.
Next, class members will be notified about the settlement and can opt out of the settlement or object to it.
A final approval hearing will occur Sept. 8 in Alameda Superior Court in front of the same judge who granted preliminary approval. At that hearing, the court will rule on any objections to the settlement. If the court still finds that the settlement terms are fair, it will decide whether or not to grant full and final approval to the settlement.
The court would then likely issue its final approval order at or soon after the Sept. 8 final approval hearing.
Plaintiffs filed the Porter and Fodera actions in early 2019. In May 2022, Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in Fodera, paving the way for trial on the plaintiffs’ class claims. After discovery that included dozens of depositions and the court-ordered production of hundreds of thousands of internal Equinox emails, electronic files, and documents, Equinox settled instead of going to trial.
The named plaintiffs were Renee Porter, Joshua Tolin, Frank Fodera, Michael Bonella, and Genevieve Billson, who all worked as non-exempt employees of Equinox in California during the class period.
“This settlement is a hard-fought victory that will return tens of millions of dollars to past and present Equinox employees in California,” Almon said. “We were focused on taking these important wage claims to trial, which is what allowed us to obtain this significant victory for class members.”
Club Industry reached out to the lawyer representing Equinox for comment but has not received a response.