Dive Brief:
- A movie theater chain will pay $250,000 to settle an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged the company forced a longtime manager to retire because he was 73, the agency said April 10 (EEOC v. Allen Theatres). The company allegedly did not allow the manager of 31 years to return to work when the theaters reopened in March 2021 after COVID-19-related closures.
- Allen Theatres, Inc., which operates theaters in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, also allegedly refused to pay workers’ health insurance when they turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare, EEOC said. The discriminatory pay policy also led to the company paying lower compensation to workers 65 and older, per EEOC.
- The company allegedly violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits age-related discrimination in the hiring, firing, and compensation of employees 40 years old or older.
Dive Insight:
Under the two-year consent decree, Allen Theatres will be required to offer health insurance to any employee who is 65 or older and not currently enrolled, to revise its policies to prohibit age discrimination and to offer “robust” investigative and training procedures related to age discrimination, EEOC said.
“Employers must train their staff to recognize discriminatory treatment of employees and protect employees by providing equal employee benefits regardless of their age,” Melinda Caraballo, district director of EEOC’s Phoenix district office, said in a statement.
The settlement requires the company to provide one hour annually of Equal Employment Opportunity training to all nonmanagerial employees; three hours annually of training on the ADEA and other anti-discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC to all managerial and supervisory employees; and five hours annually of training on the ADEA and other federal anti-discrimination laws to all HR staff.
“It violates federal anti-discrimination law for managers or any corporate officers to force workers over the age of 40 to involuntarily retire because of their age,” Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for EEOC’s Phoenix district office, said in a statement. “Employers should not impose their ideas about when older employees should quit working, especially for those employees who want to work, are qualified to work, and are doing a good job.”
EEOC filed the complaint against Allen Theatres Sept. 27, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. At the time, EEOC said the theater company’s president testified that his decision to force the worker into retirement was legally allowed because he was “normal retirement age.” Allen Theatres could not immediately be reached for comment.
