A prominent Manhattan lawyer claims that he was booted from the high-end spin studio chain SoulCycle for representing a former employee in a lawsuit over unpaid wages.
Attorney Douglas Wigdor has filed a lawsuit of his own against SoulCycle accusing the owners of the exclusive fitness studios of making an example out of him to dissuade other workers from taking legal action against them.
It all started when Wigdor, a former law partner of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, took on a wage-theft class action lawsuit in May 2013 on behalf of former SoulCycle spin instructor Nick Oram.
Booted: Manhattan lawyer Douglas Wigdor (left) has accused SoulCycle of banishing him for representing former spin instructor Nick Oram (right) in a lawsuit over unpaid wages
Exclusive: SoulCycle is a chain of 25 high-end spin studios nationwide, including 12 in New York
Oram had claimed that his employer did not pay instructors for time spent preparing for class and taking part in training programs.
Wigdor now alleges that both he and Oram were banished from SoulCycle studios just four days after he filed the federal class action lawsuit.
In court documents filed by Wigdor Thursday, and cited by the New York Post, the 46-year-old high-powered lawyer writes that if SoulCycle owners Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler are allowed to get away with the ban, other businesses would be able to refuse service to attorneys and their clients who 'bring legitimate action' against them.
‘They can’t go around flouting the fact that they kicked out the lawyer who represented one of their former employees,’ Wigdor told The Post.
Cutler and Rice launched SoulCycle in 2006, opening their first studio on the Upper West Side offering intense 45-minute spin classes.
The company now boasts 25 locations nationwide, including 12 in New York City, with plans to open up to 60 studios worldwide by next year.
SoulCycle has a large following among celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Mr Wigdor reached a confidential settlement with SoulCycle in Nick Oram's case back in June, and now he hopes to be allowed to return to his favorite spin studio near his Union Square office.
‘It's not about money. It's about principle,’ the die-hard cyclist told the New York Daily News.
Mr Wigdor, who lives in Queens and bikes every day to work in Manhattan, told the paper that over the years, he has sued Con Edison, Starbucks, banks and hospitals, and if those institutions were to retaliate against him in a similar fashion for doing his job, he would have been in real trouble.
Not backpedaling: SoulCycle owners Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler refused to let Wigdor back in even after a Manhattan judge ruled that they had failed to show any 'legitimate, non-discriminatory reason' for banning
Let me back in! Wigdor is not interested in monetary damages - he just wants to be allowed to return to his favorite SoulCycle studio
In October 2013, a federal court judge ruled that SoulCycle had failed to show any 'legitimate, non- discriminatory reason' for banning Oram and Wigdor from the fitness chain, but the owners would not budge.
Wigdor, who specializes in labor law, is best known for bringing a lawsuit against Dominique Strauss-Kahn on behalf of Sofitel New York maid Nafissatou Diallo, who accused the French economist of sexually assaulting her in 2011.
The charges against Strauss-Kahn were eventually dropped due to serious issues with his accuser’s credibility and lack of evidence.