WASHINGTON -- A coalition of law firms and Washington civil rights attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit Monday accusing Holiday Spas, among the largest fitness companies on the East Coast, of routinely discriminating against blacks.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, contains sworn statements and declarations made by 16 black plaintiffs who unsuccessfully tried to join the spa, and eight former Holiday Spas employees, some who allegedly were fired for recruiting too many black members.
'We are facing one of the most blatantly racial cases in corporate history,' said Rod Boggs, executive director of Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. 'We encourage members of the public who might have been affected by these practices to come forward and contact their lawyers.'
In February the Justice Department filed suit against U.S. Health Inc., the parent company of Holiday Universal Inc., which led to a settlement that enjoined U.S. Health from engaging in discriminatory practices.
Boggs said the lawsuit filed Monday by his committee and five law firms seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the plaintiffs.
Attorneys for Holiday Spas did not return repeated telephone calls Monday to comment on the lawsuit or a similar action filed in December against other Holiday Spas, which is pending.
Holiday Spas operates 44 health club outlets along the East Coast, many in affluent areas of the nation's capital and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
The suit said the clubs in the metropolitan areas around Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia are systematically 'discouraging and denying blacks the full and equal enjoyment of membership in their health clubs soley on the basis of race.'
The suit charges Holiday Spas employees delayed or denied spa tours to prospective black members and identified prospective black members in spa records with codes such as 'DNWAM' ('Do Not Want As Member').
It also accused Holiday Spas of denying commissions to salespersons for memberships sold to blacks; and black members the full range of membership benefits, including opportunities to transfer to other spas and upgrade membership.
Plantiff Greg Kernan, 36, a horticultural manager in Rockville, Md., said he tried to join the Holiday Espree Center in Rockville three times and was denied tours of the facility.
'I made an appointment and I was made to wait, while white prospectives were given tours. Some, I believe, didn't even have appointments,' Kernan said at a news conference. 'I did this a couple of times and even made a second appointment. I gave up after three or four tries.'
Another plaintiff, Maryland state police officer Medford John Campbell, said he was offered an $890 membership at a Holiday Spa in Towson, Md. But Campbell said Holiday Spas insisted the membership cost be paid in full, and Campbell said he was denied any method of installment payment.
'These practices reflect raw racism practiced with a deliberate, consistent and often clandestine manner reminiscent more of the 1950s than the 1980s or 1990s,' said Joe Sellers, another lawyer for the plaintiffs.
