WALMART WORKERS CAN JOIN GYMS FOR $9 A CHECK

Walmart, which is one of the Dayton area’s largest employers, said it has a new benefit for employees — a gym membership for a $9 payroll deduction.

With the program, Walmart’s 48,900 full-time, part-time and temporary employees in Ohio can deduct $9 or more a paycheck for a gym membership at gyms that are part of the business deal Trivity’s gym network.

In the Dayton area, participating gyms include Anytime Fitness, Planet Fitness and more. The program does not require contracts and doesn’t have enrollment fees.

The pass allows access to as many as 9,000 facilities across all 50 states for the 1.4 million employees with the retail chain. In the Dayton region, Walmart has about a dozen local stores.

Some of the participating gym chains have cheap memberships outside of the Walmart program. Planet Fitness has memberships as inexpensive as $10 a month plus a $39 annual fee.

In a statement about the Walton Life Fitness Pass program, Walmart billed it as a way to remove barriers to going to the gym.

“We’re committed to providing Walmart associates and their families access to high quality medical coverage along with tools and resources to manage their health and well-being.” said Adam Stavisky, senior vice president, U.S. benefits. “The Walton Life Fitness Pass, starting as low as $9 a paycheck, is just another example of how we’re working to help our associates and their families live better.”