In a tribune judgement, the Bettystown Leisure Ltd., also known as Integral Fitness and Leisure, was deemed within its rights to refuse exercising services to a former customer, Nedas Juknevicius, who had caused a considerable uproar by accusing wellness coach, Guy Bates, of untoward conduct towards his wife. The gym has been acquitted of bias and retaliation charges under the Equal Status Act 2000, brought against them in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by Juknevicius.
The controversial issue at hand began in March 2023, when Mr. Juknevicius entered the fitness centre alleging that Mr. Bates had acted inappropriately towards his wife the previous evening during an exercise session. The gym’s proprietor, Brian Browning, described the accusations as “off the Richter scale” allegations.
The fitness center’s administration, guided by a human resource consultancy, found the accusation completely baseless after conducting an extensive investigation. It was revealed that Mr. Bates had tried to soothe the escalating situation by offering to show Juknevicius the same surveillance video that was used during the examination, but the situation rapidly soured.
At the tribunal in April, Mr. Bates shared that he had been labelled a pervert repeatedly by Juknevicius, an incident he found shocking given his stature in the community and his repute as a family man and a sports enthusiast. The onslaught led Bates to retort threateningly after repeated offence caused by Juknevicius.
Juknevicius on his part, while not clearly remembering the use of the explicit phrase, apologised if he had insulted Mr. Bates. He insisted his only motive was to elicit an admission of guilt and an apology to his wife. He also highlighted that any mention of lodging a formal compliant seemed to anger Mr. Bates.
According to Mr Browning, a third-party probe he commissioned discovered there were no sexual implications in Mr Bates’ training of Mr Juknevicius’s spouse on the eve of their altercation. Mr Browning believed the accuser accepted that there was no inappropriate behaviour on the part of the coach.
The inquiry found that Mrs Juknevicius had been part of a female-dominated workout session under the supervision of Mr Bates. She was struggling with an exercise where she had to lie down with her legs lifted straight above her. Mr Browning said that Mr Bates adjusted her legs and tapped the soles of her shoes to indicate she had grasped the exercise. He repeated this action with a couple of other female participants. The investigator saw no misconduct, concluded Mr Browning.
When Mr Juknevicius attempted to renew his club membership in September 2023, he was allegedly aggressive and intimidating towards a receptionist, Lorna Waters, who also testified. Mr Juknevicius denied these accusations.
The company’s upper echelon no longer welcomed Mr Juknevicius, as Mr Browning stated that none of the staff desired to see him.
In his judgement, Mr McNamee stated it was hard to substantiate that any discrimination had taken place. He recognised that the evidence was disputed by both parties but found that a highly disparaging term “a f***ing pervert”, had been publicly applied to the instructor by the complainant.
He acknowledged that the dispute was examined and no improper conduct was found to have taken place between the coach and the accuser’s wife.
He described the entire fracas as a quasi-public brawl that teetered on the edge of serious offence between two very emotional individuals. He emphasised that the altercation’s initial spark came from Mr Juknevicius’s comment, with both men uttering inappropriate remarks.
He reiterated that a public fight between two people did not constitute discrimination and thus could not be classified as victimisation.
Mr McNamee confirmed that the fitness centre was completely justified in their refusal to renew the membership, citing the happenings of March 28th as grounds. Further incidents on September 25th only solidified their standpoint, he added.