Golds Gym Operator Punished by State Labor Bureau

A local Gold's Gym operator must post $187,200 bond to ensure timely paychecks for its employees, or close down, Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian ruled this afternoon.
Synergy Fitness, LLC, and Synergy Joint Venture, LLC, known in the Willamette Valley for their Golds Gym locations in Salem, Eugene, and Springfield, "have a documented pattern of late payment of wages and the issuance of insufficient fund checks to employees," state labor officials said.
So many employees have filed complaints about bouncing paychecks that the company's owner, Troy Finfrock, has to take steps by May 15 to ensure he has the money to cover all future payrolls, BOLI ruled.
"Employees shouldn't have to race to a bank on payday, hoping to get their pay because they beat their coworkers to an account with too little money," Avakian's office said in a statement. "And the hard-working employers who comply with every legal requirement, no matter how bad the economy, shouldn't have to compete with a business that treats deadlines like guidelines."
The bureau reports that it received 15 written complaints from Feb. 19, 2009, and April 28 of this year about payroll problems at the company.
Finfrock signed an agreement to comply with the law in March, but, BOLI says, by mid-April more bounced check complaints rolled in.
"Finfrock was issued an additional warning, and after receiving complaints by three more employees who were unable to cash their paychecks, Avakian ordered the business to provide a surety bond or cease operations," the statement said.