According to Athletech News, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York justified Europe’s lawsuit because the high-end fitness gym chain dismissed her complaint regarding an uncomfortable work environment. The gym professional worked at Equinox’s East 92nd Street location in New York for nearly a year. Then, in November 2018, she was hired as a fitness manager and quickly climbed the company ladder to personal training manager the following month.

In her new role, she gained 15 direct fitness reports. However, things became toxic on the job for Europe when a male manager was consistently defiant when she tried implementing rules. The reason behind his actions? He didn’t think she was fit to be his superior. Her lawsuit stated her colleague commented on race- and gender-specific beliefs. The comments were about Black women and other people of color who were clients and Equinox staff members. One of the racist viewpoints he allegedly shared of his peers was that anyone who wasn’t white was “lazy” and shady, and he would aim to get them out.

Because this caused tension in the workplace, Europe flagged this to upper management. But, instead of handling the issue, the facility’s leadership used Europe’s “attendance and punctuality” as grounds to fire her. Unfortunately, this decision backfired in court after the revelation of other employees’ timesheets proved some had worse time stamps than the former manager and were still employed.

Susan Crumiller, the lawyer representing Europe, shared her excitement for this win because it shows the treatment and behavior displayed is a major problem that can’t continue.

“We could not be more thrilled with today’s jury award. The jury sent a loud message to Equinox that there are serious consequences for corporations that permit racist and sexist behavior in the workplace,” Crumiller said in a statement. “We are also pleased that the jury found Equinox’s racism had a severe and lasting impact on Röbynn’s mental health and that she deserved to be compensated for it. Let this be a warning to all businesses in New York that if you try to brush harassment and discrimination under the rug, you will not get away with it.”