73-year-old fired over age after 31 years at New Mexico movie theater, feds say
The president of a movie theater chain fired a 73-year-old man, ending his 31-year career as the manager of one of the company’s New Mexico cinemas because of his age, according to a newly settled federal lawsuit.
Abby Parrish was forced to retire from Allen Theatres in Clovis in September 2020 — after the company took away his family health insurance once he was over 65 years old because he qualified for Medicare, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed suit on Parrish’s behalf.
Now, Allen Theatres Inc. will pay $250,000 to Parrish and other employees affected by a “companywide discriminatory compensation policy,” the agency said in an April 10 news release.
The company, which owns several movie theaters across Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, disagrees with the EEOC’s claims of age discrimination.
In a statement provided to McClatchy News on April 11 by Allen Theatres’ attorney Charles W. Weese, it said: “Allen Theatres denies any wrongdoing, disputed the claims brought by the EEOC, and entered into the Consent Decree to amicably and efficiently resolve the lawsuit.”
“As such, the parties waived an entry of findings of fact or conclusions of law,” the company said.
Company layoffs during COVID
When Allen Theatres’ managers and other employees were temporarily laid off in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Parrish was the only employee who was permanently fired, the EEOC charged in its lawsuit.
The company “mandatorily retired” Parrish and told him “he would not be considered for rehire when the theaters reopened after the COVID shutdown,” the lawsuit says.
In 2021, the company wouldn’t rehire him — as other former theater managers were asked to return, according to the lawsuit.
Before his firing, Parrish had managed the Clovis theater since 1991, when he was hired for the position in July of that year.
Former employees react to the settlement
Now, Parrish is grateful the case is settled.
In a statement, he 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,” Parrish said, expressing his gratitude to the EEOC’s Albuquerque area office for representing him.
According to the EEOC, Allen Theatres’ policy of taking employees 65 and older off health insurance caused several workers to receive “less compensation.”
One of the affected employees was Charles Green, the director of IT for Allen Theatres in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the agency said.
“I appreciate being included in the settlement class as well,” Green said in a statement, in which he thanked the EEOC staff.
Allen Theatres, which was accused of violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, must now offer current employees 65 and older health insurance if they’re not covered by the company’s health benefits, according to the EEOC.
The company must also revise its policies to ban age discrimination and provide regular updates to the EEOC under a two-year consent decree.
“The EEOC is appreciative that Allen Theatres worked with us to negotiate an early resolution to this matter,” Mary Jo O’Neill, a regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix district office, said in a statement.
Clovis is about 220-mile drive southeast from Albuquerque and borders Texas.
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM with the headline "73-year-old fired over age after 31 years at New Mexico movie theater, feds say."
.jpg)