Two more news anchors for NY1 recently filed a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against the news network.
NY1 recently came under fire over allegations of pregnancy discrimination in a suit filed by two more on-air personalities, reporters Thalia Perez and Michelle Greenstein. According to the allegations, one of the women was fired from the news station “during her third trimester of pregnancy after she complained.” Perez and Greenstein’s suit was filed in Manhattan federal court and claims Perez experienced discrimination because she was pregnant, and Greenstein was discriminated against when she returned from maternity leave. Both women discovered that “reporting slots were being given to women who do not have children.”
This recent suit comes on the heels of another suit filed in Manhattan federal court a few weeks ago over similar accusations. In that suit, the plaintiffs argued that “since Charter Communications took the station over in 2016 they have been passed over for on-air opportunities in favor of younger and less experienced journalists.”
When commenting on the recent suit, Greenstein said:
“As a new mother, being told that my decision to have children would render me disposable to NY1 was extremely demoralizing. I had previously feared retribution for speaking up about this, but seeing the five current anchors share similar stories of gender and age discrimination, it gave me the strength and motivation to come forward with my experience.”
What happened, though? Well, according to the Perez, as soon as “Melissa Rabinovich, NY1’s assistant news director, discovered that Perez was pregnant, she cut Perez’s anchoring opportunities from ‘Local Edition.’” The suit further stated, “In total, Ms. Rabinovich constantly made Ms. Perez feel as though she were a blemish in the newsroom who was simply not wanted.”
In Greenstein’s case, she alleges in her suit that when she was out on maternity leave following the birth of her child in 2017, “she was asked to return just after five weeks.” She also claims that “Rabinovich cited Greenstein’s status as a new mom as reasoning for passing her over for a full-time traffic reporter position.” According to Greenstein, Rabinovich allegedly said, “I did not think you could handle the flexibility of hours because you’re a new mom and you have a lot going on.”
When responding to the allegations, Maureen Huff, a spokesperson for Charter, said the allegations have no merit. She added:
“These two women only provided fill-in work. A few years ago, we decided to employ more full-time on-air employees. At that time, we no longer had a need to call them for shifts. Our records show that neither Michelle nor Thalia applied for any open position.”
Sources:
Two more female NY1 anchors sue alleging age, maternity discrimination
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