Anchor Sues Tegna Station
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Longtime WTHR (Indianapolis) Anchor Andrea Morehead has filed a lawsuit against the Tegna station claiming that she was harassed and mistreated by colleagues and managers over several years as she waged a public battle with breast cancer.
“While thousands of WTHR viewers shared support with Andrea Morehead, her coworkers poked fun at her suffering and created an untenable work environment,” attorney Terrance Kinnard wrote in the lawsuit.
WTHR’s website still lists Morehead as one of its news anchors, but Kinnard told the Indianapolis Business Journal that the station fired her in December. Morehead’s social media accounts continue to identify her as a WTHR employee.
WTHR General Manager Michael Brouder declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
The suit accuses WTHR and parent company Tegna Inc. of unlawfully discriminating against Morehead on the basis of disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “The lawsuit is self-explanatory. She stands by every word,” Kinnard said when contacted by telephone Sunday. “Mrs. Morehead is looking forward to her day in court.”
The lawsuit said the ongoing health care struggle made her the butt of office jokes. It claims that she learned in February 2020 that two coworkers and two managers bet $20 on whether she would return to work after the treatments were finished.
“Such conversations were a frequent occurrence within Andrea Morehead’s work environment and were clearly poking fun at Andrea Morehead’s unfortunate cancer diagnosis and the treatment she was receiving,” Kinnard wrote in the lawsuit. “Although Tegna managers were present during these conversations, no action was taken to admonish the participants and the behavior was allowed to continue unfettered.”
