AMC to pay $56,000 after disabled Owings Mills theater employee was forced to quit, EEOC says

The AMC movie theater chain will pay $56,000 and adopt new procedures to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit that alleged an Owings Mills theater employee with cerebral palsy was forced to quit after asking for accommodations, federal officials said Tuesday.

The employee requested a ticket scanner with a strap and side button and a printed list of the movies and their corresponding theaters in large font, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a news release. Instead, officials said, the theater “greatly reduced the employee’s hours, forcing him to quit his job” around September 2023.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder in which abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain affects a person’s movement and posture, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People with cerebral palsy may also have issues with hearing, speech or vision, the CDC notes.

The EEOC accused the theater of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not making accommodations for the employee, whom federal officials did not identify.

“From its inception, the ADA has protected the right of people with significant disabilities like cerebral palsy to participate fully in the workforce,” Karen McDonough, the director of the EEOC’s Baltimore field office, said in the release. “Employers have a legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodations, and the EEOC will hold them accountable when they fail to do so.”

EEOC officials said there was an attempt to reconcile the situation before the commission sued the movie theater chain in the U.S. District Court of Maryland.

AMC has to pay $56,000 in monetary relief, update and implement policies and procedures to handle requests for accommodations, train staff, and post a notice about disability discrimination for employees, the EEOC said.

AMC is a 106-year-old movie theater chain that reported $1.6 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2026, a 14% increase from a year earlier, according to its July earnings report.

Representatives from AMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.