Abercrombie & Fitch charged with discrimination

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.- abercrombie and fitch was fined $115,264 for refusing to let a teenager help her autistic sister try on clothes at its Mall of America. The store was found on the charge of discriminating against a disabled person.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights was satisfied that the Apple Valley family of the disabled teen received settlement after the four years of fighting this case.

The fine was considered a hefty penalty but the Department of Human Rights was pleased to finally resolve this case after the retail store refused to abercrombie outlet apologize for the incident and even questioned the disability of the girl.

Michael K. Browne, the department’s legal hollister affairs manager, said the size of the penalty is the largest in at least two years. “We don’t want anything that happened in this case to repeat itself,” Browne said.

Working for Abercrombie and Fitch

The teen retailer, abercrombie and fitch, frequented by preppy and status-conscious kids, has gone out of style. No matter how much it believed—and banked on—that kids would never, ever, ever abandon its stores filled with sexy clothes and half naked men, they did, and in record numbers. It tried to ride out the recession maintaining its high prices, an arrogant mindset that turned off its customers. Most other marketers were listening to customers and acting accordingly, some by lowering prices, others by adding value, offering money saving options and suggestions or reworking messaging to relay compassion to worried, cash-strapped customers. abercrombie outlet has crash-landed and is now trying to play catch up by lowering prices and introducing fashion trends it missed, like dresses. The company reported a second-quarter loss last week of $26.7 million, its third consecutive quarter showing double-digit sales declines. Sales dropped 23% to $648.5 million. Direct-to-consumer sales dropped 13% to $48.7 million. Employees are getting pink slips and the doors are being boarded up on its even higher-priced Ruehl chain. CEO Mike Jeffries said, “We continued to be confronted with very challenging conditions during the second quarter. We believe we are doing the right things to address those challenges and improve our domestic business.”

Abercrombie & Fitch Ordered to Pay Big in Autism Discrimination Case

In 2005, helpful big sister Brittney Maxson tried to enter an A&F dressing room at the Mall of America to assist her younger sibling, 14-year-old Molly, who is autistic.

She was confronted by store staff, who said that abercrombie and fitch policy didn’t allow more than one person in a dressing room at a time in an attempt combat shoplifting. The girls had encountered the same policy at another store, but they allowed the sisters in the dressing room at that store after they understood the situation.

At hollister, Brittney explained her sister’s special needs, but was still refused. Their mom, Beth, tried to talk to management and the girls were still refused. Beth even called a customer service hotline while at the store and the request was still ignored.