Federal Suit Charges Movie Theater Chain Illegally Removed Employees from Company Health Insurance Plan and Forced 72-Year-Old Theater Manager to Retire
CLOVIS, N.M. – Allen Theatres, Inc., which operates a chain of movie theaters across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, violated federal law when it discriminated against its older employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the lawsuit, Allen Theaters discriminated against Abby Parrish, a manager at the Clovis, New Mexico location, when the president of the company forced him to retire in September 2020, and refused to return him to work in March 2021 because he was 72 years old. Also, while Parrish was employed, Allen Theatres stopped paying for his family health insurance coverage once he reached age 65, according to a discriminatory company compensation policy. The same policy resulted in Allen Theatres paying employees age 65 and over less in compensation. Parrish worked for the company for more than 30 years.
This alleged conduct violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination in the hiring, firing, and compensation of employees 40 years old or older because of their age. The EEOC filed suit against Allen Theatres (Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-cv -00965), in U.S. District Court of New Mexico after first attempting to reach a settlement through its pre-litigation conciliation process. The lawsuit seeks back pay, including loss of employee benefits, front pay, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, and liquidated damages as well as appropriate injunctive relief to end the current discriminatory practices, and prevent such alleged discriminatory practices in the future, on behalf of Parrish and a class of aggrieved individuals.
“A company cannot implement a policy completely stopping medical benefits for its employees when they turn 65,” said Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill of the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. “This policy results in employees 65 and over being paid less in employee benefits than younger employees. Further, a company cannot force a well-qualified employee who was satisfactorily performing his job as a theater manager to involuntarily retire simply because of a paternalistic view that people should not be working at age 72.”
April Klug, director of the EEOC’s Albuquerque Area Office, said, “It is unlawful for employers to base any of their decisions to discharge and refuse to rehire employees on age, over 40, and not based on qualifications or ability to perform the job.”
For more information on age discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination.
The EEOC’s Phoenix District Office is charged with enforcing federal employment discrimination laws in in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.
