Ex-Peloton instructor Daniel McKenna files $1.8M suit

Explore More

A popular Peloton instructor who was fired last month says his boss stereotyped him for being Irish, frequently asking if he was drunk on the job and claiming she couldn’t understand his accent — according to a $1.8 million wrongful termination suit he filed Wednesday.

Daniel McKenna – whose virtual live running and strength classes were attended by upwards of 1,000 members at a time – says he was fired on Sept. 12 with no explanation, according to his Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

McKenna claims his abrupt firing was in retaliation for the fact he took over two months of short-term medical leave after he tore his chest muscles teaching a class, the suit says.

The instructor, who signed on with Peloton in December 2020 and began teaching in August 2021, says he had to get surgery on April 25 to repair the injury — and took less than half of the recovery time his doctors recommended before returning to work, the filing claims.

Chief Content Officer Jennifer Cotter told McKenna in a June 23 meeting – leading up to his return to work – that it was “corporate America” and they could fire workers for going on short-term disability, adding that it was “not looking good” for McKenna, the suit alleges.

McKenna says the company also dismissed his request for a medical exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine in October 2021 when he worried it would interfere with his recovery from another surgery.

He said he eventually was caused to “succumb” to the pressure to get the jab for fear of losing his job, the court papers claim.

Cotter, meanwhile, repeatedly stereotyped him for being Irish asking in front of others at work if he was drunk and saying she couldn’t understand his accent, the suit alleges.

“Cotter would direct belittling remarks to [McKenna] as soon as he joined Peloton staff meetings saying, ‘I hope you are not drunk, Daniel,'” the filing alleges.

When McKenna once confronted Cotter about it she told him “she was mostly joking,” the suit claims.

The suit says that instructors at the company were “afraid” of her because she controlled how many classes they could teach and could get them ad spots and sponsors with sports gear and clothing companies, the filing alleges.

When McKenna was fired he says he was told his contract was being broken “for cause” but the company refused to give him an explanation of what he’d done wrong, the suit claims.

McKenna also says that his contract was overly restrictive with a non-compete that extends for 18 months.

The non-compete “would force him to abandon his chosen profession if enforced and illegally mandates that he is unemployed and uncompensated for eighteen months under Peloton’s oppressive restrictive covenants,” the suit charges.

McKenna says Peloton was a “hostile and abusive” place to work and that he’s had to get professional help to manage “the stress, distress, sleeplessness and harm caused by [Peloton],” the suit claims. He says it continues “to severely impact his mental health,” according to the court papers.

He’s suing Peloton and Cotter for $1.8 million.

The company and Cotter both didn’t return requests for comment Wednesday.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3N7kGlmampfmsVuvMSlpq2nnmK2r7%2FTq6ycrJ%2BneqWtzaKcpWWdmLimus2aZJ%2BhnJrAbn2McaRmq6WewXA%3D