Lawsuit Dropped on CBS O&O
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Back on December 1st, in a Patron Only story, FTVLive told you that a big lawsuit was likely going to be filed against CBS and their O&O’s.
A new lawsuit against CBS’s WFOR has dropped, but this isn’t the lawsuit we were talking about in our story.
This latest lawsuit that has been green-lighted by a Miami judge is class-action labor law and sex and age discrimination lawsuit that could have nationwide impact on CBS’s 29 owned-and-operated television stations.
The case, brought by former WFOR (Miami) freelance Reporter, Silva Harapetian (her legal name is Harapeti), alleges that WFOR routinely worked her 50 to 60 hours a week when she was a freelance Reporter and Producer over a seven-year period.
Harapetian claims that she and “other similarly situated” individuals allegedly were paid no overtime, no vacation pay, allowed no sick leave pay, and received no health care benefits.
What makes Harapetian’s suit unprecedented is the fact that in that Magistrate Judge Lauren Lewis has ruled that employees and former employees of CBS’s 29 company-owned stations to join in.
In other words, someone that was working in the CBS O&O in LA, New York or other markets with CBS stations and feel they were wronged, can join in on this lawsuit.
Harapetian alleges that she was instructed to list 8 hours on her timesheet each day, even if she worked many more, which she says she did routinely.
In a hearing earlier this year, WFOR comptroller, Carl Larson, could not dispute that he directed Harapetian to submit inaccurate timesheets, misrepresenting her actual hours. CBS operations executive, Joel Goldberg, said in the hearing that the company’s stations were in step with per diem procedures that corporate executives were aware of. A CBS labor relations executive testified that for administrative “convenience,” per diem employees were instructed to list 8 hours on their timesheets each day.
Harapetian was paid $210 a day, whether she worked eight hours or twenty.
Harapetian said she was repeatedly promised a full-time job with benefits when one became available. Openings came and went, and Harapetian remained per diem. When she finally confronted News Director Liz Roldan, she says Roldan told her the job “was not available” to her.
Harapetian claims she was paid less than male and younger female reporters, thus her age and sex discrimination complaint.
Here is where CBS could be getting very nervous about this lawsuit. Two former CBS employees have already joined the lawsuit.
Former WFOR per diem reporter, Tiani Jones, and former WCBS, Channel 2 New York per diem reporter, Don Champion. Both echo claims of excess work hours without benefits as alleged by Harapetian.
Some expect more to join in when word of the lawsuit gets more coverage.
If current and former per diem employees of CBS Television stations prevail in their lawsuit, lead attorney, Peter Hoogerwoerd of Miami says each will receive an “average” of the back wages to which they were entitled, in addition to punitive damages for “mental anguish, personal suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.”
“There is a reason that CBS is fighting it and wants to settle,” Hoogerwoerd said. “They know it is going to be a substantial amount of money.”
In a court filing, CBS says that Harapetian’s suit baseless. The company says she didn’t bring her complaint in a “timely basis,” and failed to provide evidence supporting her allegations.
Stay tuned….
