Former Pasadena Gym Bookkeeper Settles Retaliation Suit

A former employee of a Pasadena gym has settled her lawsuit with the school in which she alleged she was wrongfully fired from in 2022 as a general manager and bookkeeper for complaining that management was manipulating employees’ timesheets and payroll records.

Plaintiff Jennine Garcia of Baldwin Park also maintained in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that management at Vernon Lee Amateur Gymnastics Academy changed workers’ hours so that they were not paid for the entire periods worked and that the employees were denied overtime as well as meal and rest breaks.

Garcia’s attorney filed court papers on Monday with Judge Robert B. Broadbelt notifying him of the accord, but no terms were divulged. In their court papers, academy lawyers denied Garcia’s allegations and said they were barred in whole or in part by the statute of limitations.

Garcia was hired in May 2022 and at the time of her firing was a bookkeeper and general manager responsible for general administration of the gym as well as handling payroll for the employees. She was paid $25 an hour.

During her employment, Garcia learned that management had engaged in a number of “fraudulent and unlawful business activities,” including manipulating employees’ timesheets and payroll records and changing their hours so that they were not paid for all hours worked, the suit stated.

Management also failed to pay employees overtime and to provide them with proper meal and rest breaks, the suit stated.

After Garcia complained to the academy owner about the alleged labor violations, criticism of her work increased, she was yelled at by other employees and treated with “contempt and hostility,” the suit alleged.

As a final act of alleged retaliation, Garcia was fired in December 2022 for speaking out about the alleged labor misconduct, the suit states.