SLIDELL, La. (AP) — A former LA Fitness employee in Louisiana says her supervisor called her Afro hairstyle inappropriate and used a racial slur before she was fired.
Aireial Mack tells news outlets a white assistant general manager at the Slidell gym used the slur in a text stating she was taken off the schedule because of her hair. The 26-year-old African-American says she was fired days after complaining to the general manager.
Mack filed a discrimination claim against LA Fitness in March with the state Commission on Human Rights. Reports say it told her the company violated protections against workplace discrimination but official reasons given for firing Mack — excessive sick days and a poor work ethic — were justifiable grounds for terminating employment.
A gym official referred questions to the national health chain's California headquarters, which said it would look into it.