According to a new lawsuit brought by two former female employees of the Equinox gym chain, the company engaged in discriminatory actions after they had children. National Account Executive Alison Sadel, 32, and Senior Regional Sales Manager Megan DiDomenico, 34, say they were overlooked for promotions because they were mothers.
The lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims that although Equinox appears to represent “female empowerment,” the company “regularly expresses hostility towards would-be moms and moms and communicates the message that you cannot be both a mom and successful at Equinox.”
Sadel, who has worked at the company since 2011, said that the discrimination began after she became pregnant. She alleges that she was overlooked for a promotion, which was given to a man, and was subsequently given less responsibility and pay after returning to work following the birth of her child. Sadel faced numerous biased comments during her pregnancy, including one from a director who said, “what is with all the Account Executives getting pregnant,” according to court documents.
In addition, she was expected to work overtime to train her replacement before going on maternity leave. Meanwhile, she was subjected to insensitive comments from a supervisor who asked why she was “so insecure and overly sensitive — a stereotype about pregnant women,” the suit says. When she was 8 ½ months pregnant, she was reprimanded for wearing trainers to work despite having a condition that made her feet swell. In December, after filing a discrimination complaint with the company, Sadel was forced to quit.
Meanwhile, Megan DiDomenico, who began working at the company in 2015, says she first experience discrimination after another staff member “told management that it was unacceptable for her to pump [breast milk] in the office” after she returned to work from maternity leave, the court documents say. Furthermore, she was passed over for promotions to a director position in favour of two women who didn’t have children, the lawsuit claims. When she questioned the decision, she was told that she should “focus on [her] family.”
DiDomenico, of Boca Raton, Florida, asked to be transferred to Florida where she would have more help with her kids but the company rejected her request while allowing a male staff member to do the same, the court documents claim. Although the company eventually granted her transfer request, she was demoted and told by supervisors that her position would be complicated because she was a mother, who added that “her new position would only ‘work’ if she was okay not seeing her children,” the lawsuit states. She was eventually forced to leave her position after her discrimination complaints were dismissed.
Douglas Lipsky, a lawyer Sadel and DiDomenico, told The New York Post, “When the company learns you are pregnant or a mom, it pulls the chord on your treadmill.” Equinox has yet to comment on the case.