AMC Theatres Accused Of Disability Discrimination

The nation’s largest movie theater chain illegally forced out an employee with cerebral palsy after two decades on the job, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says.

In a lawsuit filed this month, the EEOC alleges that American Multi-Cinema, known as AMC Theatres, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it denied reasonable accommodations to Marc Gillis, a veteran employee at its Owings Mills, Md. location.

“This employee had worked for the company for 22 years and requested very simple accommodations to continue as an effective employee,” said Debra Lawrence, EEOC regional attorney for the Philadelphia district.

The complaint indicates that after more than 20 years scanning tickets, helping customers and cleaning theaters at AMC, Gillis was given a new manager who shouted at him and called him “slow.” The manager reduced his hours and allegedly declined to provide him with a ticket scanner with a strap and side button, accommodations that had been provided previously. In addition, the EEOC said that the manager only sporadically provided Gillis a large print version of a list showing each movie and which theater it was playing in.

Ultimately, the suit indicates that the manager stopped putting Gillis on the work schedule.

The EEOC said it filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland after failing to reach a pre-litigation settlement with the company.

The EEOC wants the court to order AMC to change its policies and practices to prevent disability discrimination and provide Gillis backpay and additional compensation, among other relief.

AMC did not respond to a request for comment about the suit.