A&F Continues Its Crusade Against Humanity

Filed Under: Icky Icky Poo Legal Matters Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't take kindly to disabled people, apparently.

First, they lost a discrimination suit this past summer brought against them by a female employee in the UK who was harrassed and subsequently removed from the storefront once her prosthetic arm became apparent to her employers.

Abercrombie said that the cardigan she wore to cover her prosthesis violated the store's "look policy," and she was told to stay "in the stockroom until the winter uniform arrives."

Apparently, their intolerance is present on both sides of the pond.

The frayed cargo pant depot has been ordered to pay $115,264 by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights for discrimination against an autistic teen.

In 2005, employees of the Abercrombie & Fitch store in the Mall of America refused to let the sister of Molly Maxson, a fourteen-year-old girl with autism, accompany Molly in the dressing room while she changed. Molly's sister and mother tried to reason with the staff, explaining that Molly was autistic and could not be alone in the fitting room, but the staff would not relent, adamant that they must adhere to the company's stringent one-person-per-changing-room policy.

Along with the fine, the state ruled that Abercrombie must train its employees in how to accommodate customers with disabilities as well as post signs in its Minnesota stores expressing that exceptions may be made to the fitting room rule for qualifying circumstances.

Seems reasonable, right?

Well, Abercrombie & Fitch actually tried to appeal not only the fine, but the training and signs ruling too.

Fortunately, what they lack in compassion and contrition is matched by their lack of smarts: when attempting to appeal the ruling, A&F sent their petition for appeal via first-class mail. Thankfully, the Minnesota's Court of Appeals only accepts petitions sent by either certified mail or hand-delivery, and since A&F failed to comply with this basic procedure, the court threw out the case and dismissed the appeal on September 15th.

The Maxson's attorney, Ian Laurie, said "I think the family is glad that this is finally over. Now we can kind of move on."

Thank goodness the lawyers over at A&F aren't very sharp, or else the poor family would have to deal with this already drawn out suit even longer.

[Image via AP Images.]

Posted: September 23, 2009 at 6:30 pm