Restaurant Drops Teen Rule; Bias Suit Settled

A McDonald’s restaurant in Valencia has dropped its policy of excluding youths under 16 after 9 p.m. to settle an age discrimination suit filed against it by a 13-year-old girl, the girl’s attorney announced Thursday.

The suit, filed by attorney Gloria Allred, alleged that 13-year-old Tracy Tellez was told to leave the Valencia restaurant halfway through her meal Jan. 22 under a policy aimed at curbing vandalism.

“I’m glad this is settled because I think teen-agers should be treated equally,” said Tellez as she nibbled on a McDonald’s cheeseburger in Allred’s office Thursday.

However, a spokesman for the restaurant said the policy had already been rescinded when the suit was filed March 15. The policy began earlier this year after Friday-night crowds tore chairs from their moorings and put graffiti on table-tops and on other parts of the restaurant, employees said.

“It was always the intention of owner Mark Schutz to drop the policy as soon as he brought the vandalism problem under control,” said Neil Cohen of McDonald’s Operators of Southern California, which represents 310 restaurants. “Schutz hired a security guard sometime in March and dropped the policy.”

But Allred said her client was told the night before she filed the suit that youths under 16 were not permitted after 9 p.m.

“What’s important is that the McDonald’s in Valencia cannot simply reinstate at will the policy barring teen-agers,” Allred said. “They have agreed that in the future, they will follow a policy of serving teen-agers on the same basis as adults.”

Under the terms of the suit, Tellez has declined to collect damages, Allred said. “We didn’t go into this for monetary gain,” said Tellez’s mother, Debra. “Teen-agers should at least be given the benefit of the doubt and treated like everyone else.”

Cohen said that no other McDonald’s in Southern California has ever barred youths under 16 from the premises during certain hours.