Unpaid Wages Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Fitness Camp Interns

Recently, a fitness boot camp has been under fire as a group of interns have filed a unpaid wages class action lawsuit claiming the boot camp did not pay them for hours worked, nor for overtime.

They claim that Camp Gladiator, based in Texas, required them to participate in a several months long unpaid internship before they were allowed to be full-fledged trainers.

Shannon Schoellhorn is alleging that she, as a former unpaid intern, was a victim of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act by Camp Gladiator.

Because she and other interns were not paid for their work and then, after they were hired by the bootcamp, were not paid overtime for hours worked, the FLSA was violated. 

According to the unpaid wages class action lawsuit, interns for Camp Gladiator are required to engage in a 20 hour per week internship that can last up to 10 weeks long.

They are not paid for this work and are also required to raise nearly $700 in sales, recruit 3 new possible trainers and purchase a “CG Starter Pack.” The starter pack runs the unpaid interns $625 and includes a company email address, business cards and Camp Gladiator branded clothing.

The interns also must attend staff meetings, according to the interns filing the unpaid wages class action lawsuit, and provide Camp Gladiator’s marketing department with 100 email addresses of their friends and family members.

Interns File an Unpaid Wages Class Action Lawsuit

The lawsuit states, “This action is appropriate for class or collective action status because … the internship is always unpaid, it has always required essentially the same type of work of the intern, it has always been treated as an ‘extended audition’ for the role of primary trainer and it has always suffered from the same lack of compliance with [the FLSA].”

According to the FLSA, “Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. The Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.”

This act, passed by Congress, was designed to protect workers from potential danger, exploitation, and abuse by employers and to ensure all workers are properly compensated for work done.

According to this unpaid wages class action lawsuit, the unpaid interns should be classified as employees because they perform work duties restricted by the Dept. of Labor’s six-factor test. This determines when interns are not required to be paid for their work.

The six-factor test states that for a person to be an intern, they must understand that they are not entitled to wages or a job after the internship, and requires employers to gain “no immediate advantage” from the activities of the intern.

Because Camp Gladiator required its unpaid interns to give email addresses, raise sales and pay for things essentially means that the “interns” should not be classified as such.

In her unpaid wages class action lawsuit, Schoellhorn claims that when Camp Gladiator attempts to recruit new interns, they purposefully misrepresent the benefits to becoming a Camp Gladiator employees. 

The marketing material claims that 30 Camp Gladiator interns earned more than $100,000 per year. However, this only represents 6% of their workforce.

According to the unpaid wages class action lawsuit, the median annual income of a trainer with Camp Gladiator is just over $3,000, and one third of their trainers earn less than $2,000 per year.

Schoellhorn is seeking actual and economic damages on behalf of herself and other interns and trainers, attorneys’ fees. She is also asking for an injunction against the fitness bootcamp so that it will compensate future interns and pay their regular employees proper overtime pay. 

This Unpaid Wages Class Action Lawsuit is Schoellhorn v. Camp Gladiator Inc., Case No. 3:16-cv-02064, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

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