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Posted at: 09/08/2009 12:48 PM Judge: MOA Store Discriminated Against Teen with Autism
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights sued the retailer over a August 2005 incident involving a teenager from Apple Valley. According to the human right's department's summary of the case, store employees refused to let the teenager's sister accompany her into a fitting room, even after she explained that the girl had special needs. The workers said the store policy was to allow only one person into a fitting room at a time in order to reduce the risk of shoplifting. The girls' mother asked for a copy of the policy at the store and repeatedly contacted the retailers corporate offices in search of more information. When she was denied information she filed a complaint with the human rights department. The department said it tried to remedy the situation with the retailer, but when that failed it filed suit. The judge sided with the human rights department. The judge found Abercrombie & Fitch did discriminate against the girl by failing to make reasonable accommodations for her disability. The judge also found that the retailer failed to follow its own written policies, denied the girl was disabled, and failed to respond to the girl's mother's requests for information. The judge ordered the retailer to pay a total of more than $155,000, including $25,000 to the teen for mental anguish and suffering. The retailer must also revise its policies on accommodated people with disabilities and submit the policy to the Human Rights Commissioner for review. It must retrain current employees and post signs outlining its fitting room policy. Abercrombie & Fitch is appealing the case.
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A judge found that the Abercrombie & Fitch store at Mall of America discriminated against a 14-year-old customer who has autism.