The five female NY1 anchors and reporters who sued the channel’s parent company over claims of age and gender discrimination announced that their lawsuit was settled Thursday and that they were all leaving the NY1 waves.
The case, brought by longtime anchor Roma Torre and her colleagues Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee and Amanda Farinacci, was filed in June 2019 against Charter Communications / NY1.
The lawsuit said their employer consistently prioritized male journalists at the direct expense of their colleagues – a pattern of gender discrimination that only increases as women reporters get older, the lawsuit claims.
In a joint statement issued by their attorneys at Wigdor LLP, the five plaintiffs said: ‘We are pleased to announce that we have reached a confidential decision on our case against Charter / NY1. After a long conversation with NY1, we believe it’s in everyone’s interest – us, NY1s and our viewers – that this issue should be resolved and we have mutually agreed on ways to separate. We want to thank everyone who has supported us through these times. Please know that the support of each person has made a significant difference. ”
The law firm did not want to provide further information on the settlement.
Charter PR spokeswoman Maureen Huff said in a statement: “We are pleased to announce that we have reached a confidential resolution on the lawsuit by Roma Torre, Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee and Amanda Farinacci “We want to thank them for their years of dedicated service in reporting on the news to New Yorkers and wish them well in their future endeavors.”
When Charter bought NY1 in 2016, it undertook a modernization effort that involved erasing the older woman from the talent pool of weeds, the lawsuit alleges. These women suddenly had less airtime, the lawsuit said, were cut off from campaigns, blocked from sensational reporting roles, and came up with radio-silent silence when they expressed their grievances. Their ‘flourishing careers at the time have waned’ since the takeover, they said in the lawsuit. When the plaintiffs complained, their grievances were “not taken seriously, or were directly ignored, and only led to retaliation and further abuse,” according to the lawsuit.
They also claim that male anchors are paid better than their female colleagues: Torre, who joined when the network was established in 1992, says she makes ‘less than half’ of what morning host Kier Kiernan does. The lawsuit also mentioned how Kiernan’s 20-year existence with the network deserved an extensive promotional campaign, but ‘Mrs. Torre, on the other hand, with a longer tenure and celebrating 25 years on air with her own daily live show, received no special promotion at all. “
The news of the exodus of so much of the NY1 talent has erupted among New Yorkers, including the governor:
Their lawyers Douglas Wigdor and David Gottlieb also honored their legacy with a statement Thursday:
“It was a real privilege for me. Torre, Mrs. Shaughnessy, Mrs. Ramirez, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. To represent Farinacci who has been on the air with NY1 for over 100 years. We thank all the many people who supported their cause, and we thank the many supporters who agreed to see them as fair and accurate for so many years. ”