NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A movie theater chain based in New Mexico has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle an age discrimination lawsuit. According to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Allen Theater’s president forced Abby Parrish, a manager at the Clovis location, to retire in September 2020 because Parrish was 73 years old. Parrish had been with the company for 31 years at the time. The agency said Allen Theaters also refused to allow Parrish to come back to work when the theaters reopened after COVID-19.
In a statement, Parrish said:
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.