Autism Blog - Abercrombie and Fitch to pay fine for refusing to accommodate autistic girl

10 Sep 2009

Author: Sullivan
Comments: 3

Autism

Abercrombie and Fitch to pay fine for refusing to accommodate autistic girl

Accommodations. They don’t have to be big, but they can make a big difference.

Case in point: a 14 year old autistic girl needed help in a dressing room. The store claimed a policy that only one person can be in a dressing room at a time. Surely this policy could be waived in this case?

Such is the case that was recently decided in Minnesota. A local outlet for the Retailer Abercrombie and Fitch refused to allow an autistic girl to bring her sister with her into a fitting room.

According to Minnesota Public Radio, the store wasn’t even following its own policy:

The company’s associate handbook states that only one person is allowed in a fitting room at a time, but adds, “Some exceptions to this rule include parents with their kids and a disabled person’s assistant.” The company designed the policy to reduce theft.

Abercrombie and Fitch has been fined $115,264. Of this, $25,000 will go to the girl for mental anguish. About $41,000 will go to her lawyers.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Abercrombie and Fitch to pay fine for refusing to accommodate autistic girl”

Clay
September 10th, 2009
23:56:48

An upscale lesson for upscale Abercrombie and Fitch. Yay, teach them all, one by one.
Sullivan
September 22nd, 2009
04:17:23

Update—
they lost their appeal due to neglecting to send documents via certified mail:

http://www.startribune.com/loc.....DEh7P:DiUs

Abercrombie & Fitch’s appeal of a $115,264 fine for discriminating against a disabled teenage customer was thrown out last week because the company failed to send a document by certified mail.

Too bad. I was looking forward to a scathing decision from the appeals judge.
linex123
December 2nd, 2010
12:13:46

Four years after Abercrombie & Fitch refused to let a teenager help her autistic sister try on clothes at its Mall of America store, state officials have fined the company $115,264 for discriminating against a disabled person.