While a number of states have banned non-compete clauses used by TV stations, Kentucky is not one of them.

Popular WBKO (Bowling Green) Anchor Laura Rogers has hosted the station’s morning newscast since 2014, but had finally decided to move on, with a move to Spectrum News.

She informed the station that she would be leaving at the end of 2021 for her new gig. But, just two days before her departure, WBKO station management prevented her move by using a “non-compete” covenant in a contract she signed in 2014.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports that WBKO parent company Gray Television Inc., through a Dec. 28 letter from corporate attorney Claire Magee Ferguson that was delivered by WBKO General Manager Tim Coles, informed Rogers that she could not work for any television station or cable TV facility that competes with WBKO for viewers within this media market for one year after leaving the station.

The letter said Gray would “pursue all remedies,” including litigation if Rogers violated the non-compete clause.

Rogers has been off the air since the end of 2021 and has legal consul working to get her on the air at Spectrum.

“I felt it was very vindictive,” Rogers said. “It was an insulting way to handle it. I don’t think I deserved to be treated this way.”

Rogers said the unplanned break from work has created problems and conflicts beyond the loss of income.

“I run into people at the grocery store and other places, and they ask, ‘Where did you go?’ It’s awkward, and it’s difficult to know how to respond,” she said.

Rogers is not accepting that she is bound by the non-compete covenant, and has taken her own legal action against what she and her attorney believe is a document that is no longer in effect.

“I was an at-will employee and shouldn’t be held to the terms of an expired contract,” she said. “I should be able to use the skill set that I’ve developed over the years.”

Attorney Brian Lowder, representing Rogers, filed last month a complaint in Warren District Court asserting that the non-compete covenant expired in 2018.

Rogers spent years anchoring the news at WBKO and was ready to leave for another job. You would think that the station would allow her to do that, but instead, they are trying to kill her next move.

If the station is successful, Rogers will continue to have to sit out of work with no pay for months on end.

This is Bowling Green, not LA. It’s not like Rogers was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and can afford to sit on the sidelines.

Gray and WBKO should thank her for her years of service and let her move on to her next gig.

And maybe, just maybe, if you would have appreciated her a bit more and paid her a bit better, Laura Rogers would have not felt the need to leave the station in the first place.

Just saying…