Suing 60 Minutes
More bad news for CBS News.
An Associate Producer for 60 Minutes named Cassandra Vinograd has sued CBS for "unlawful discriminatory conduct" and "unlawful retaliatory conduct" after she attempted to report her boss for misconduct.
In September 2019, Vinograd "emailed senior executives and the general counsel, to describe her serious concerns regarding 'highly inappropriate, unprofessional and upsetting events'" involving her boss, longtime CBS News producer Michael Gavshon, whom she claims sent her an inappropriate photograph. She asked for an investigation and to be protected from "retaliation.”
“In the ensuing days, through a series of swift moving events, Cassie was ostracized, isolated and penalized for calling out what she perceived as inappropriate conduct by Gavshon," the suit claims. "Gavshon quickly removed her from all stories in production, including a segment she had pitched and performed the majority of the work on. In deference to Gavshon, CBS executives did nothing to stop his blatant retaliation. Worse, senior executives ratified his personal vendetta by willingly sending temporary associate producers to replace Cassie and work with Gavshon”
In a statement, CBS News says, said: "CBS News is in the process of reviewing the complaint filed by Ms. Vinograd and plans to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. CBS thoroughly and immediately investigated the matter in accordance with its policies. Subsequently, Ms. Vinograd asked to no longer work with Mr. Gavshon and CBS has made every reasonable effort to honor this request. CBS News vehemently denies there was any retaliation.”
Vinograd’s lawyer Jeanne M. Christensen, Partner at Wigdor LLP emailed FTVLive this statement, “We look forward to holding CBS accountable for its unlawful conduct as alleged in the complaint by our client Cassandra Vinograd. Contrary to CBS’s claims that it is doing the right thing when female employees report gender-related misconduct, as alleged, it appears that no meaningful changes to the culture at CBS have been made. It appears that CBS continues to protect senior male talent at the expense of junior women — business as usual.”