Beaupertheuy v. 24 Hour Fitness

This case is a nationwide employment dispute against 24 Hour Fitness for unpaid overtime required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The case was brought by current and former employees who worked for 24 Hour Fitness in states other than California.

Originally this was certified as a collective action for two classes of employees. The classes that were certified were a Managers class that included General Manager, Operations Managers and Fitness Managers employed outside California between December 31, 1998 and July 9, 2007, and a Personal Trainers class for Personal Trainers employed between from October 29, 1999 and August 29, 2008 outside California.

Both classes required qualified employees to opt-in to the case within a specific time frame. At present, both of the respective opt-in periods have closed however the litigation continues to move forward.

In early 2011 the Court decertified the collective case but allowed the employees to pursue their claims through individual arbitrations. The case continues to move forward toward arbitration of the claims. In March 2011, claims for arbitration for 983 claimants were filed with JAMS Arbitration Service in San Francisco, California.

With respect to many of the claims there are ongoing disputes as to the proper venue for the arbitration and those issues are currently being litigated in the federal courts. The employees seek to have the arbitrations conducted in the Northern District of California, where the case has been located since 2006 and where 24 Hour Fitness is headquartered. 24 Hour Fitness seeks to transfer the individual cases to other states. In some cases, 24 Hour Fitness has filed petitions to compel arbitration in other states. The dispute is currently before the federal court in California.

For updates and commentary, visit www.24hourlawsuit.com and our 24 Hour Fitness blog.

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