Fitness club makes changes to address special needs children - The ...

An allegation of discrimination against a 3-year-old autistic boy from Huntington Beach has prompted 24 Hour Fitness officials across the country to install a new computerized sign-in system at their Kids' Clubs and address their policy concerning children with special needs.

Jason and Maritza Malone, who complained that an employee at the Huntington Beach 24 Hour Fitness made a discriminating remark about their son, Gio, received an apology from 24 Hour Fitness and assurance that the company will look into improving their policy concerning children with special needs, said Steve Datte, regional vice president of 24 Hour Fitness in Orange County, San Diego and Phoenix.

"I wanted to say sorry for the situation through actions not words," said Datte, who met with the couple Thursday at the Huntington Beach gym on Center Avenue.

Jason Malone said he accepted the apology.

"I can't forget but I can forgive," he said. "We felt that 24 Hour handled this responsibly and recognized that there was an error."

The Malones and their two children, Daniel Giovanni Santana, or Gio, and Luke, 1, went to the 24 Hour Fitness Sports Club on April 11. The Malones were paged to the Kids' Club about 30 minutes after arriving, they said. A gym staff member told the couple Gio was playing with toys in front of a slide, which the couple acknowledges was a safety hazard.

After explaining to the employee that Gio was autistic, the Malones said they were told by the female staff member that Gio would not have been allowed in the Kids' Club if they had known he was autistic.

Datte said in an interview that the comment was a bad customer service situation, but added that he did not agree that the employee made a discriminatory remark. He said she did not finish her sentence because she was upset and flustered while handling the situation.

The comment was in regard to the staffing level in the child care area at the time, he said. Company policy dictates that a certain number of employees are present per child in the Kids' Club area, and children with special needs are counted as more than one child to ensure the ratio can accommodate everyone, Datte said.

The company is testing a new computerized sign-in system that will be installed at all of its Kids' Clubs to ensure that nothing like that happens again, Datte said. Of the 38 24 Hour Fitness gyms in Orange County, 36 have Kids' Club areas.

The Malones had notified the Huntington Beach club that their son is high functioning autistic, Jason Malone said. The club has a profile card that the employee did not check, which stated that, Malone said.

Datte acknowledged that the employee did not read Gio's card. But he said with the new system, which will be installed at most clubs this year, it will be impossible to not check all children's profiles.

The new system will also make employees aware of children with special needs who are signed into the club and the system will monitor staffing levels, he said.

Jason Malone said he still felt the comment was discriminatory, despite the company's apology and explanation that the employee simply misspoke.

Datte sent a memo to all of the company's more than 400 gyms with information, some of it supplied by the Malones, to address how to better attend to children with autism. That memo was not immediately made available for this article.

Datte said officials talked to the employee, but declined to say if any disciplinary action was taken.

Jason Malone said he and his wife did not go into the meeting expecting to get anything out of it. He said their primary concern was how their son was treated and how they could help the company avoid incidents like this from occurring.

"We were definitely satisfied with their changes," Malone said, "I appreciate what [Steve] did."

Although they haven't returned to 24 Hour Fitness yet, the couple was given two complimentary six-month memberships. Malone said they might return in the future.

The Malones were also given three Disneyland annual passes, Datte said.

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