Corporate rulebooks love to pretend they apply to everyone equally. They don't. In the real world, policies are often weaponized against specific people while others get a free pass for the exact same behavior.
A new lawsuit against a Planet Fitness franchise in Diamond Bar, California, perfectly spotlights this double standard. Jeramino Wardlaw, a Black former employee, is suing the gym chain for racial discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. He says he was fired for doing his college homework during a slow shift. Meanwhile, his Latino co-workers did the exact same thing right at the front desk and never faced a single reprimand.
This isn't just about a bad manager. It is a textbook example of selective enforcement, a tactic companies use to legally cover themselves while pushing out unwanted employees.
The Toxic Reality Inside the Gym
Wardlaw started working at the Diamond Bar location in February 2026, averaging 40 hours a week while balancing college classes. Most of his co-workers were also students. But there was one major difference. Wardlaw was the only Black employee. The rest of the staff was Latino.
According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the workplace culture was hostile long before the firing. Wardlaw alleges that his co-workers regularly cracked derogatory jokes about Black people. Two colleagues explicitly targeted him with a Spanish racial slur.
Instead of shutting it down, his supervisor allegedly joined in. The lawsuit claims the manager circulated racially offensive memes and stickers in the workplace group chat, actively encouraging the behavior.
When a company's leadership participates in the harassment, the official handbook becomes completely useless.
The Homework Trap
For college students working night or weekend shifts at a gym front desk, doing homework during downtime is an unwritten perk. Wardlaw's colleagues told him it was perfectly fine. They did it all the time when the gym was empty.
Relying on this established workplace practice, Wardlaw cracked open his schoolwork one night when no guests were around. On March 8, his supervisor told him to stop. Wardlaw complied immediately.
Four days later, he was fired. The reason given? Doing schoolwork on the clock.
Wardlaw suggested that management check the security footage to see that every other employee did the exact same thing. Management promised they would look into it. They never did. Nobody else was investigated, disciplined, or fired.
Even after he was terminated, the mockery didn't stop. Co-workers kept sending racially offensive memes in the group chat until Wardlaw was finally removed from it. He is now seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for lost earnings and severe emotional distress.
How Companies Weaponize the Rulebook
This case highlights a massive issue in employment law. Employers rarely say they are firing someone because of their race. Instead, they wait for a minor, technically valid policy violation and use it as an excuse.
It happens everywhere. An employee speaks up about harassment or doesn't fit into the dominant office culture, and suddenly their manager starts tracking their exact arrival time down to the minute. They get written up for a long lunch that everyone else takes. They get fired for doing homework when the rest of the shift is doing the same.
Legally, this is known as disparate treatment. If a rule exists on paper but is only enforced against one specific group or individual, it is discrimination.
What to Do If You Face Selective Discipline
If you find yourself singled out for a rule that everyone else breaks with impunity, you cannot just complain that it is unfair. You have to prove it.
- Document everything immediately. Write down the dates, times, and names of co-workers who commit the same "infraction" without being punished.
- Keep external copies of communications. Save text messages, Slack threads, or WhatsApp group chats. Wardlaw’s case hinges heavily on the offensive memes shared in the workplace group chat. Once you lose access to company systems, that evidence vanishes.
- Request video or digital records. If management claims they fired you based on a specific policy breach, ask them in writing to review the logs or security footage of other staff members during the same timeframe.
- File an official complaint in writing. Use the words "discrimination" or "retaliation" if that is what is happening. This forces HR to handle the issue under a different legal framework and creates a paper trail that makes it harder for them to fire you without looking like they are retaliating.
Do not assume your company will do the right thing just because a practice is common. Protect yourself with cold, hard data before they use the rulebook to show you the door.
