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A longtime personal trainer at the Equinox on West 76th Street has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the upscale fitness chain of age discrimination and failing to protect him from years of alleged workplace harassment by a fellow employee.
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Eric Houston, 68, says he was once one of the Upper West Side location’s most in-demand trainers — logging nearly 200 sessions in December 2024 alone and earning $130,000 that year. But despite his success, he claims he was repeatedly targeted by a younger female colleague who made sexual advances, interfered with his work, and retaliated when he rejected her.
The allegations were first reported by the New York Post, which reviewed the complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
According to the lawsuit, Houston was hired in 2019 and almost immediately became the target of unwanted attention from fellow trainer Dianna Scotece, 51. He claims she flirted with him, made inappropriate remarks — including telling him to “just stand there and look pretty” in front of colleagues — and attempted to physically obstruct his path on the gym floor, seemingly to force contact.
Houston says Scotece’s husband, who also worked at the same Equinox, later threatened him on the job. Despite these complaints, the lawsuit claims management did little to intervene and instead advised Houston to avoid her. He says he was summoned to the manager’s office about once a month — not for performance issues, but because of her complaints. Managers would apologize, he said, and reiterate that he was doing excellent work.
That all changed in 2024 when new supervisors took over.
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The lawsuit states that the new management team appeared uncomfortable with Houston’s status as a nearly 70-year-old top performer. He alleges they discouraged him from working as much, stopped publishing monthly session leaderboards (a metric he routinely topped), and ultimately terminated him in January 2025 following an allegedly false accusation by Scotece that he had yelled at her and blocked her way.
Houston claims this incident was a convenient excuse to push out an older employee who had already raised concerns about discrimination. “[They] did not like the image of a then almost 70-year-old man as the gym’s most prominent trainer,” the filing reads.
In a statement to the Post, Houston’s attorney Geoff Kalender said, “We hope this lawsuit will help to bring the reckoning that Equinox’s business practices demand, for the good of their employees. Corporations like Equinox need to learn there are consequences for violating the rights of the workers of New York City.”
This isn’t the first time Equinox has come under legal fire in recent months.. As ILTUWS previously reported, the luxury gym chain agreed to a $600,000 settlement in May after New York Attorney General Letitia James found the company had made it excessively difficult for members to cancel their subscriptions. Under that agreement, Equinox Group — which includes SoulCycle and Equinox+ — was required to revise its cancellation practices, simplify disclosures, and offer partial refunds to affected New Yorkers.
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The AG’s office called the cancellation process “complex, difficult, and time-consuming,” with some Upper West Side members reporting that charges continued even after they had made repeated requests to cancel.
Houston is asking the court to recognize what he sees as a wrongful termination rooted in both harassment and ageism.
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