Ex-anchorwoman files age bias suit against KIRO-TV
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More than a year after parting ways with KIRO-TV, former anchorwoman Susan Hutchison is suing the station for abandoning her for a younger woman. In documents filed Friday in King County Superior Court, Hutchison, 49, claims the station discriminated against her based on race and age when it hired Kristy Lee, 33, an Asian American, to replace her on the 5 p.m. news. Hutchison, who is white, claims in the papers that she was fired in December 2002. But KIRO general manager John Woodin disputes that claim, saying she had resigned. Hutchison’s attorney, Jon Rosen, of Seattle, offered no comment yesterday. Hutchison joined KIRO as an anchorwoman in 1981, part of the vanguard of women moving to top TV newsroom positions since the 1980s. For years, she had rounded out a quartet of blond, veteran talent who held the top anchorwoman spots at rival stations: KING-TV’s Jean Enersen, KOMO-TV’s Kathi Goertzen and KCPQ-TV’s Leslie Miller. But in September last year, Hutchison went on paid leave from the station after being shuffled from more prominent evening newscasts to the noon show. She has not worked in television news since. Other lawsuits alleging discrimination on various grounds have been filed against KIRO and other Seattle stations. A 1996 sex-discrimination case against KIRO by former anchorwoman Nerissa Williams was settled out of court. Indeed, lawsuits against television stations are not uncommon. But in most cases, they are settled out of court since the plaintiffs often do not want to risk their careers by being seen as troublemakers and the defending stations don’t want negative publicity. The modern era of age- and sex-discrimination suits began with Kansas City, Mo., anchorwoman Christine Craft in 1986, whose boss famously told her she was “too old, too unattractive and not deferential enough to men.” But Craft’s award subsequently was overruled. More : seattletimes.nwsource.com |