Here's a story CNN won't acknowlege amidst its obsessive Bill O'Reilly coverage. A lawsuit filed against the Cable News Network and a number of its sister companies -- including the Turner Broadcasting System and Time Warner, Inc., -- claims that African-Americans receive lower performance ratings in evaluations, that there are dramatic differences in pay between similarly situated employees of different races, and that the promotion of African-American employees is blocked by a “glass ceiling.”
Last December, those companies were hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court. The named plaintiffs include Celeslie Henly, who says she worked as an executive administrative assistant at CNN for seven years before she was fired five days after she emailed the corporation’s Human Resources Department about discriminatory treatment.
According to an article posted by The Hollywood Reporter's Eriq Gardner, the class action lawsuit filed against CNN on Tuesday, March 4, is very broad and is spearheaded by Henley and Ernest Colbert, Jr., a current TBS staff member.
“They claim that the companies ‘have been mistreating black managers since the late 1990s’ in the legal action,” Gardner stated.
In addition, “Colbert claims that he is underpaid compared to his white peers” and charges that “the internal policies ensure black employees aren't promoted as often or to positions as high as are white employees,” the senior editor stated.
"As a result, jobs are filled without being posted, candidates are handpicked in advance, and supervisors who make hiring decisions have implemented 'preferred qualifications' to mask the prejudicial preference in their candidate selection," writes attorney Daniel Meachum in the complaint.
"Indeed,” Meachum claimed, “although African-Americans make up about 30 to 35 percent of the employees in the mid-level managerial and staffing positions, they are extremely under-represented at higher pay grades and senior positions."
The complaint cites hiring and advancement statistics while alleging that African-American employees have endured slurs from superiors, including: "It's hard to manage black people," and "Who would be worth more, black slaves from times past or new slaves?"
Gardner added that “the case against CNN may soon become bigger by many multiples.”
“That's because after the defendants moved for dismissal or at least a more definitive statement about specific allegations, also raising the prospect that some of the claims may be barred by statute of limitations or by plaintiffs not exhausting administrative remedies, the plaintiffs' attorneys told the judge of their wish to file an amended complaint,” he reported.
(article continues)
| 
