Swimming Teacher Sues YMCA; Alleges Age Bias

A 66-year-old woman widely known for teaching infants to swim has filed an age discrimination suit against the Hollywood YMCA, claiming that she suffered severe emotional distress when she was abruptly fired last year.

“I can’t tell you how humiliated and insulted I feel after all the years and all the things I’ve done for the Hollywood YMCA,” Virginia Hunt Newman said. “I was fired because of my age.”

Newman contended in the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that Hollywood YMCA Executive Director Norris Lineweaver asked her to become the aquatic director because she was a prominent authority and because she had been a longtime supporter of the branch.

Fired After Two Months

But two months after she started the job on May 1, 1986, under a two-year contract, she said, Robert Arias became the associate executive director. She said he told her that he could not work with her and fired her. She said she appealed to Lineweaver, who had been praising her ability, only to be informed there was “no chemistry” between her and Arias.

Newman said she has taught swimming and diving since 1949 and has been teaching infants to swim for nearly 35 years. She has written two books and has been the subject of numerous articles and television shows.

“I didn’t ask for the job in the first place,” she said. “I did it as a favor to Norris Lineweaver. I had my own school for over nine years. I helped the Y when I had my own pool. I feel that I should be compensated for the two years I was hired for.”

Her attorney, Jeffrey L. Malek, said: “She was working very hard for the Y. She was doing a super job. They never complained. Then they canned her and hired someone about 23 years old.”

Lineweaver was on vacation and could not be reached. Arias said the YMCA could not comment on a personnel matter under litigation. But he said, “The YMCA, as an organization, and the Hollywood Y in particular, provides for all employees a regular evaluation process that is thorough and an appraisal procedure that assures a fair expectation.”

Arias also noted that “through all of this,” the YMCA has allowed Newman to use its pool to teach a handicapped youngster to swim.

The suit did not specify money amounts, other than to ask for compensatory damages “greater than $25,000” and for special damages and general damages to be established in trial.

“She has never been fired before,” Malek said. “She has suffered emotional damage. Her main problem is facing up to the international and local community on the damage to her reputation.”