News in Brief May 6 – Comcast, 24 Hour Fitness and More

Comcast Facing Race Discrimination Lawsuit

Comcast is facing a lawsuit alleging that it discriminates against male African-American employees. Plaintiff Wilbert Spencer Jr. claims that he was regularly the subject of discrimination during his ten years working in a Comcast call center. He says he received poor marks on performance reviews because of his attitude about race in the workplace, was denied promotions, and was even the victim of assault on two occasions. According to the suit, nothing was done about the problem – even when Spencer complained to his supervisors about it.

Kimlan Foods Accused of Deceptive Marketing

Kimlan Foods is facing a lawsuit claiming that it mislabels its jars of radishes and cucumbers by saying they’re free from preservatives when they actually contain citric acid. According to the lawsuit, by adding citric acid without disclosing that it is, in fact, a preservative, the company is misleading consumers and exploiting their tendency to prefer products without preservatives. The plaintiff is looking to represent a class of people who bought the Taiwanese food manufacturer’s products across the country.

FDA Expands Its Regulation to All Tobacco Products and E-Cigarettes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized a rule that will allow the agency to regulate all tobacco products and e-cigarettes. The rule also bars retailers from selling e-cigarettes, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco and cigars to anyone under 18. This is significant because there was no federal law preventing the sale of certain tobacco products to minors before this decision. The rule goes into effect in 90 days.

24 Hour Fitness Sued For Not Honoring “Lifetime Fee Guarantee”

24 Hour Fitness customers are not happy with the gym’s new ownership and its decision to stop honoring its “guaranteed” renewal fees for lifetime gym members. A proposed class action is attacking 24 Hour Fitness for allegedly telling lifetime members that they would pay the same annual renewal fees for the remainder of their lives. According to the suit, 24 Hour Fitness announced that it would be raising the annual renewal fees (doubling or tripling the rates for some) for its lifetime members – some of whom have been paying the same rate for more than 20 years.