Hundreds of GoodLife Fitness instructors across Canada have been let go, the company says.
In a statement emailed to Global News, GoodLife Fitness Chief Operating Officer Jason Sheridan said the company recently “made the difficult decision to end the employment of 480 group fitness instructors from 189 clubs across the country.”
“Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions on group activities, most of these instructors have not worked for the majority of the pandemic,” he said. “We recognize this is a challenging situation, and we are focused on supporting these individuals as they look for other opportunities, including various open positions at GoodLife.”
Sheridan said the pandemic restrictions “have been hard on the entire fitness industry and especially hard on group activities.”
“Because of this, we will not be able to expand our group fitness schedules in the near future to the point of bringing back additional instructors,” he said.
According to Sheridan, the instructors were notified via their GoodLife email, and were sent an “invitation to schedule follow-up calls” to address any questions.
In an email to Global News, Adam Roberts, a spokesperson for GoodLife Fitness said impacted employees were informed on March 2.
The same day, the company posted a tweet regarding a ‘Personal Training National Career Webinar.’
Are you looking for a career opportunity in Canada’s leading Fitness Club? ???? Join us virtually on March 9 at 1:00 pm for our Personal Training National Career Webinar and learn all about a career in Personal Training at GoodLife Fitness. Register here: https://t.co/5meXeZ6i7bpic.twitter.com/1sLLJtsb1c
Roberts said “like many businesses, GoodLife is continuing on the road to pandemic recovery and currently has hundreds of other positions we are recruiting for.”
“That is where the career fair comes in,” he said. “We recognize this is a challenging situation for the impacted individuals, and we are focused on supporting them as they look for other opportunities, including with various open positions at GoodLife.”
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One former employee, who spoke to Global News on the condition of anonymity, said the whole situation has been a “rollercoaster.” She worked for the company for more than 15 years.
She said she was a fitness instructor, and taught various group classes including yoga and dance.
“There was so much hope seeing things open back up – not just fitness clubs but other industries opening back up further – and vaccine mandates being lifted,” she said. “It was really moving in a positive direction so there was this huge feeling of hope, at least for myself, that we were getting back to normal and that maybe going to start to return to some of those things, the classes and the members that we knew and loved.”
She said she feels as though she’s in a state of “shock” now that the hope is gone.
What’s more, she said “it would have been nice to have the opportunity to speak with someone” about the termination, instead of receiving the news via email.
She said so far, she has not received any correspondence regarding an exit interview from GoodLife Fitness.
“We were given email contacts, if we had questions to reach out,” she said. “I haven’t been offered any sort of interview or follow-up in person or on the telephone. I’m still deciding which way I want to go on that.”
Asked about the job fair tweet, the employee called it a “slap in the face.”
“To have so many people be terminated, and then just a day or two later to see that there is a job fair?” she said “It’s kind of baffling honestly, you know, what sort of thinking was happening at that point?”
Asked whether she and other employees are thinking about pursuing legal action over the terminations, she said “she’s not sure.”
“I’m still exploring some avenues, so we’ll sort of see what happens,” she said. “And I think at this point, it’s up to everybody to decide whether they want to fight something like this, or whether that heartache and that turmoil will just be too much for them and they would like to let it go and start to move on.”
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Ontario lifts capacity limits in some indoor public spaces including restaurants, gyms and cinemas – Feb 17, 2022
Another employee who Global News spoke with said she worked for the company for nearly 11 years, and taught around 10 classes per week. Global News has also agreed to protect her identity over fears of potential backlash.
She said because of an exclusivity agreement, she and other instructors were not allowed to teach fitness classes elsewhere.
“GoodLife holds all of my certifications and therefore decimated my fitness career,” a statement emailed to Global News says.
“I cannot work anywhere else as they hold exclusivity of our international certifications,” she said.
Severance for terminated employees
In an email to Global News, Jon Pinkus, a partner at employment law Firm Samfiru Tumarkin, said severance for terminated employees could be up to 24 months’ pay and benefits, depending on their age, position and the amount of time they worked for the company.
“Severance is also affected by an individual’s ability to find new work, especially if they worked in a specialized role or require retraining,” Pinkus explained. “This would apply only for those who are non-unionized.”
Pinkus said if employees who have been terminated have not been paid severance or offered an adequate severance package, they “have been wrongfully dismissed” and could file a lawsuit.
“They should absolutely talk to an employment lawyer right away,” he wrote.
However, Pinkus said a lawsuit or legal claim may not even be necessary, “as these are typically straightforward matters to resolve.”
“Employees also have a right to review their legal options after being let go, and don’t have to accept a severance offer by a deadline set by their employer,” he said. “The reality is that they have two years after their termination to file a legal claim for severance.”
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
