She filed discrimination charge on Charlotte theater. It retaliated months later, suit says
A Charlotte movie theater is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for retaliation against a former employee who previously filed a discrimination charge.
A former Cinergy Entertainment Group Inc. worker in December re-applied to work at the Charlotte dine-in movie theater at 5336 Docia Crossing Road in Charlotte, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
But Cinergy refused to rehire her because “she filed a previous discrimination charge with the EEOC after being fired from a bartending job in 2022,” according to the lawsuit.
Employees are protected from workplace retaliation by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the EEOC, the federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws.
Cinergy, based in Dallas, Texas, be opened its first North Carolina movie theater in March 2022 in Charlotte. The dine-in movie theater has 10 screens, recliner chairs with swivel tables, serving food and a full bar. The company has nine theaters in four states, mostly in Texas, according to the Cinergy’s website.
Cinergy officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Retaliation lawsuit details
The Cinergy Dine-In Cinemas’ employee was a bartender at the Charlotte theater from July through October 2022, according to the EEOC lawsuit.
About a week after the employee told the general manager she was pregnant, she was fired for “alleged policy violations,” the lawsuit states.
In March 2023, she filed a discrimination complaint against Cinergy with the EEOC.
In December 2023, she applied for an open bartender position at the Charlotte movie theater.
When she followed up about the status of her application, the general manager asked her if she had filed the EEOC discrimination charge, and said he would not give her a job, according to the lawsuit.
She was referred to Cinergy’s vice president, who told her she would not be re-hired because she had filed the discrimination charge and to never apply again, according to the EEOC’s lawsuit.
The previous discrimination charge did not progress to a lawsuit filing by the EEOC, and is not a complaint as part of this lawsuit, commission spokesman Victor Chen said.
EEOC seeks compensation
It is unlawful to retaliate against applicants or employees for filing or being a witness in an EEOC charge, complaint, investigation or lawsuit, according to federal laws.
The EEOC is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages for the employee, as well as injunctive relief to end any other ongoing retaliation.
“Employers cannot tolerate such conduct or allow managers to retaliate against employees for reporting discrimination or for engaging in protected activities,” Melinda Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, said in a statement.
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