Gold’s Gym Settles Sexual Harassment Claim

A sexual harassment claim against Gold’s Gym in downtown Santa Barbara and its CEO Angel Banos ended in a settlement last week of $675,000 to Dina Murillo, who once managed the gym on Carrillo Street.

Murillo filed against Gold’s, under its corporate entity Santa Barbara Corporate Fitness (SBCF), in 2018 and alleged that Banos sexually harassed her and other female employees and clients at the gym. Murillo had worked for Gold’s predecessor companies since 1997, coming to Santa Barbara as a regional manager for three locations, according to the lawsuit, which Banos bought with his brother, Willy Banos, in 2016. The lawsuit alleged Murillo was fired after she reported Banos’s behavior to upper management and details multiple instances of Angel Banos allegedly “creeping out the members and employees.” It continues on to say that despite Murillo’s reports of Banos’s concerning behavior to her direct supervisor and upper management, they took no direct action; she was terminated the same year despite successful work performance, the court documents claim.

Angel Banos could not be reached for comment, but his lawyer Alfred De La Cruz disputed the claims of harassment in an email statement. De La Cruz wrote that Murillo only brought the claims after learning she would be fired for poor performance. “[SBCF] and Angel Banos acted appropriately at all times regarding Ms. Murillo,” he said. “The parties mutually agreed to settle the matter with no admission of wrongdoing by any party,” he stated, and that the decision to settle “was made solely to bring closure to this long fought dispute.”