|
The New York Times
Fired Worker Sues CBS
Alleging Gay Bias
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, June 26, 2007
NEW YORK, June 25 -- A CBS
News producer whose skull was fractured while he was vacationing last year sued
the network Monday, charging he was discriminated against for being gay and was
fired for publicly discussing the attack.
Richard N. Jefferson, 52, claims in papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme
Court that CBS officials harassed him based upon his sexual orientation, then
fired him because he complained about it.
CBS spokeswoman Sandra Genelius issued a statement calling the suit
''unequivocally baseless.'' Jefferson's contract was not renewed ''due to
legitimate issues with his performance that had been previously discussed with
him,'' she said.
Jefferson, who started as a producer for CBS in January 1989 and worked several
jobs until he was fired Nov. 20, 2006, said Monday his problems stemmed from the
vicious assault he suffered April 6, 2006, on St. Maarten in the Caribbean.
Jefferson said strangers nearly hit him and a friend with a car as they left a
casino. The men in the car then smashed his head with a tire iron and attacked
his colleague.
Jefferson said he called CBS and the network sent an air ambulance to lift him
and his severely injured friend out of Philipsburg, the island's largest city, a
consideration that he says probably saved his friend's life.
But back at work, Jefferson said, senior vice president Linda Mason tried to
control his public comments about the incident, telling him, ''If you get
involved in advocacy issues, we might ask you to take a leave of absence.''
''She told me this was a gay rights issue and I said it had nothing to do with
gay rights; I was the victim of a crime,'' Jefferson said.
Jefferson's lawsuit names CBS and Mason as defendants, along with CBS News
executive producer Patricia Shevlin.
Jefferson claims CBS ''improperly pried into his private life, dictated his
after hours activities, restricted his First Amendment rights, created false
complaints about his performance,'' and then ''terminated him on the basis of
his sexual orientation.''
He is seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive
damages.
Genelius said in her news release that Jefferson's lawsuit reveals ''a
stunningly selective recall of the facts.''
CBS News supported Jefferson's ''right to discuss the attack publicly and to
seek justice, which he clearly did,'' Genelius said.
Last November, four people were convicted of public violence and causing
grievous bodily harm in the attack and sentenced to terms ranging from six
months to six years in prison.
|
