Allen Theatres to Pay $250,000 in EEOC Class Age Discrimination Lawsuit Involving Health Benefit Plan

ALBUQUERQUE – Allen Theatres, Inc., which operates a chain of movie theaters across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, will pay a total of $250,000 to settle an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Allen Theatres’ president forced Abby Parrish, who had been a theater manager for 31 years in Clovis, New Mexico, to retire in September 2020 because he was 73 years old. The company refused to allow him to work in March 2021 when the theaters reopened after COVID.

The agency also alleged Allen Theatres had a companywide discriminatory compensation policy that stopped paying for Parrish’s family health insurance coverage because he was over 65 years old and eligible for Medicare.

This same discriminatory pay policy resulted in Allen Theatres paying less compensation to a class of employees, age 65 and over, including Charles Green, director of IT for the company in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

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-00965-KWR-KK), in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico.

In addition to providing $250,000 in damages to Parrish and the other aggrieved individuals, the two-year consent decree settling the suit requires Allen Theatres to offer health insurance coverage under the company’s health benefit plan to any current employee who is 65 years old or over and not currently enrolled in the company’s health plan.

The consent decree also requires Allen Theatres to revise its policies to include prohibition of age discrimination, including robust investigative and training procedures relating to age discrimination. Allen Theatres is also required to report its training, complaints, and policy modifications to the EEOC.

“The EEOC is appreciative that Allen Theatres worked with us to negotiate an early resolution to this matter,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. “We hope this is a lesson learned, for Allen Theatres and other employers. 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. 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.”

Melinda Caraballo, district director of the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office said, “Employers must train their staff to recognize discriminatory treatment of employees and protect employees by providing equal employee benefits regardless of their age.”

Class member Charles Green said, “I want to thank your entire staff at the EEOC for all the time and work that was put into achieving the outcome. I appreciate being included in the settlement class as well. Please pass my thanks and appreciation to you and your team for all this and the great work you all do for the American people.”

Class member Abby Parrish added, “I didn’t think it would come to all of this when I filed my charge with the EEOC. I just knew it wasn’t right, and even told [that to] the president when he told me I was being mandatorily retired back in 2020. I feel blessed, and want to thank Mary Jo and the people I worked with at the EEOC in Albuquerque for getting a result like this.”

For more information on age discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination. The EEOC’s Phoenix District Office has jurisdiction for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and part of New Mexico.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.