Schechner, Lobertini sue KPIX for age, sex bias

Two veteran KPIX CBS 5 reporters, John Lobertini and Bill Schechner, who were laid off along with three other on-air personalities in March, sued the station today alleging age and sex discrimination.

Their San Francisco Superior Court lawsuit (CGC-08-480933) says the CBS-owned station "designed its workforce reduction process to eliminate older employees" and targeted "only male on-air talent" in making layoffs.

Before the downsizing, KPIX’s on-air talent pool consisted of 19 women and 17 men.

Others caught in the same round of layoffs March 31 were Manny Ramos, 56, Tony Russomanno, 57, and Rick Quan, 51. No female on-air reporters or anchors were let go, the plaintiffs' attorney, John McGuinn, told the Chronicle.

Schechner, 66, was at KPIX for 20 years while John Lobertini, 48, was there for nine. Neither has found a new job.

When contacted for a response, KPIX spokesperson Akilah Monifa said, “… the claims have no merit and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves.”

The following is from a statement issued by the plaintiff's attorney:

John McGuinn, Schechner's attorney, said, "The criteria KPIX used to accomplish its downsizing discriminated against its older employees: out of 240 employees, 14 were let go whose average age is 51.9. The remaining 226 employees' average age is 43.9. The statistical likelihood that there could be such a disparity in age, if age were not a factor in KPIX's decision, is less than 1/3 of 1 percent.

According to McGuinn, all five of the fired KPIX reporters are men. The day before the layoff, the KPIX Web site listed 36 on-air talent: 19 women and 17 men. Five of the 17 men were let go. No women were let go.

McGuinn specializes in discrimination law, and several years ago won a 6-figure judgment in a similar case brought by ABC7 reporter Steve Davis.

Schechner is a 20-year veteran at KPIX. He worked at the station from 1976 to 1981 and again from 1993 to 2008. In the interim, Schechner worked at NBC News as a national correspondent for the "NBC Nightly News" and was co-anchor of "NBC News Overnight."

He has anchored early morning and mid-day newscasts, covered politics, the arts, Patty Hearst, poverty, the murder of George Moscone, inner city violence, gay marriage and the lives of young people. He's reported world news and filed a regular TV column, "Schechner's Journal."

He began on Bay Area TV as a reporter on KQED's "Newsroom" program from 1972 to 1976.

"I've been around for a long time," Schechner said. "I know the history of the Bay Area — what's changed, what hasn't. My goal has always been to give voice to those who are often ignored. I wasn't finished when they laid me off. I simply want to go back."

In the 80s and early 90s, Schechner was an anchor and national correspondent for NBC News. He's been recognized for his easy on-air manner and honored for his writing and story telling ability with two Emmys, a duPont Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award and the Humanitas Prize.

"I'm not ready to stop. There are still stories I want to do," Schechner added.

At right are Linda Ellerbee and Bill Schechner from "NBC News Overnight," the first national all-night news program.

Some links:

• Chron: Fired KPIX reporters sue - allege age, sex bias
  
  
• Broadcasting & Cable: Schechner Files Suit After KPIX ‘Took My Job’
  
  
• BCN: Two former reporters sue KPIX with claims of age and sex discrimination

Judge drops most bias claims against KPIX

A federal judge has thrown out most of a discrimination lawsuit that John Lobertini and Bill Schechner had filed against CBS and KPIX-TV over their firings in 2008.

Lobertini (left) and Schechner (right) argued they were victims of age and sex discrimination because they part of a round of layoffs involving five on-air employees who were all older men. At the time, Lobertini was 47 and Schechner was 66.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, in an 18-page order released Wednesday (download), dismissed four of the plaintiffs' five claims, finding their evidence was "insufficient."

Schechner claimed that a pattern of discrimination against older reporters led to their firings. He said that in 2005, prior to his firing, KPIX news director Dan Rosenheim replaced him with a 39-year-old, calling Schechner's performance "lackluster."

"Despite plaintiffs' protestations to the contrary, the word 'lackluster' is not generally used as a synonym for 'old,'" she wrote. "Rather, it means “1. lacking brilliance, radiance, liveliness, etc; dull or vapid. 2. a lack of brilliance or vitality," she wrote, quoting from a dictionary.

Attorneys for Lobertini and Schechner also hired a statistical expert who concluded, "If age were not a factor in the selection of the five (5) individuals to be laid off, then there is only a 1.58% probability (or a 1 in 63 chance) that the mean age of the five (5) laid off individuals would be as great as it was ...”

Later in her order, the judge wrote, "Plaintiffs have failed to present any other evidence that independently or viewed in tandem with the statistical analysis, could give rise to an inference of age discrimination."

The judge dismissed four claims by the reporters — age discrimination, gender discrimination, punitive damages and lost wages — but left open the door for arguments on the issue of "disparate impact." The argument is that while it can't be proven that KPIX intended to discriminate, its actions nonetheless harmed employees based on their race or sex. The judge gave both sides 30 days to file briefs on that issue. (The case number is C 08-05049 MHP.)

Editor's note: An earlier version of this posting didn't mention the "disparate impact" claim that remains open.

Update, Monday, July 19, 7 p.m.: Chronicle: Ex-KPIX reporters lose ruling in age-bias suit

Judge dismisses reporters' age bias suit

Schechner      Lobertini

The Chronicle's Bob Egelko reports that a federal judge today dismissed an age-discrimination suit by two KPIX-TV reporters, Bill Schechner and John Lobertini, who were fired when the CBS-owned station reduced its staff. Schechner, who was 66 when he was laid off in March 2008, and Lobertini, who was 47, claimed that management used money-saving layoffs to dump five of its older employees, all of them at least 47. KPIX denied targeting older workers and said it had dismissed non-specialty, general-assignment reporters whose contracts were expiring, according to the Chron report. Today's dismissal follows a ruling in June in which a judge found that there was insufficient evidence to support four of the five claims made by the reporters.

Former KPIX reporter attacked on camera

John Lobertini fends off an angry mob. (Screen grab from Fox 40.)

Former KPIX reporter John Lobertini, now with KTXL-TV Fox 40 in Sacramento, and camerawoman Rebecca Little were assaulted by an ugly mob Sunday as they were covering a gang shooting that had happened the day before outside an IHOP in the Sacramento suburb of Natomas.

In an unusual turn of events, a memorial to the shooting victim outside the IHOP was vandalized overnight and Fox 40 said it received the following e-mail:

I just want it to be known that this wasn’t some sort of gang-retaliation. It was because of the scum that attacked your reporters and nothing was-has been done. And I will keep doing it until they are arrested.

Police say that they won't investigate the assault unless either Lobertini or Little file a police complaint.

Lobertini was laid off by KPIX CBS 5 on March 31, 2008 along with Manny Ramos, Tony Russomanno, Bill Schechner and Rick Quan in a cost-cutting move ordered by management in New York. Schechner and Lombertini unsuccessfully sued the station for age and sex discrimination.

Fox 40's coverage of the attack:

 


Another angle of the confrontation shot by KXTV Channel 10 ABC:

KPIX CBS 5 lays off 14 including four reporters

KPIX CBS 5 on Monday laid off 14 newsroom employees including reporters (from left) John Lobertini, Manny Ramos, Tony Russomanno and Bill Schechner. The four laid-off reporters have a combined 61 years of service at the station. Schechner, 66, has been on TV in the Bay Area since 1972. Lobertini headed the station's Sacramento bureau. The others laid off were editors and producers. Management isn't commenting beyond saying the layoffs weren't disciplinary. [Chronicle, AP, CBS 5 Blogger Brittney Gilbert]

Many viewers posting comments at SFGate.com are outraged, with some claiming the four reporters were victims of age discrimination.

Other CBS-owned stations are cutting jobs including 30 positions at WBZ-TV Boston, 17 at WBBM Chicago, and unknown numbers of layoffs at WCBS-TV New York, KCNC Denver, KOVR Sacramento and WTVJ Miami.

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m. The AP is reporting that Rick Quan, a reporter and sportscaster who has been at KPIX since 1987, was laid off, too. KPIX communications director Akilah Monifa would not confirm the number being cut except for the five on-air staffers. She said layoffs extended beyond the newsroom to other divisions of both KPIX and sister station KBCW-TV Channel 44.

Layoffs, automation at NBC11

NBC11 has laid off seven people including three reporters — Noelle Walker, Danny Garza and Ethan Harp, according to TV Spy's Shop Talk. The cuts weren't as extreme as those at Channel 5 in April where long time reporters like John Lobertini, Manny Ramos, Tony Russomanno and Bill Schechner were shown the door along with a number of producers and photographers.

Also leaving Channel 11 are Assignment editor Paul O'Neill, satellite truck operator John Wheeler, news exec assistant Kathy Kirtland and new media producer Jan Boyd.

To cut costs, NBC11 also plans to automate its control room operation with a system that will essentially eliminate all the news technical and control room staff, with control being handled by a computer operated by one controller and one assistant. Channel 11's cameras are already robotic, but with the new system, an entire newscast will be handled by a production crew of about four people, according to TV Spy.

'Eyewitness News' goes VJ on Saturdays

Columnist Bill Mann reports that KPIX CBS5 has begun having reporters shoot, report and edit their own stories on Saturdays as a cost-saving measure. KRON was the first to switch to VJs for all of its newscasts a few years ago.

Mann reports that the Channel 5 newsroom is in an uproar over the VJ switch.

Mann quoted one longtime "Eyewitness News" staffer as saying the training for the switch hasn't gone well:

"Even before they started, one of the VJs came back with a 'negative roll' tape (she thought the camera was on when it was off, and vice versa).

"Another was caught using her husband to help her shoot in the field.

"PIX's first reporter proponent of VJs now says it's a bad idea. The whole newsroom is in an uproar as reporters are rushed through VJ training, while editors and videographers are essentially ignored and left to worry about their jobs.

"Management here wanted money from CBS to pay for a computer server for digital video but was turned down — a corporate vote of 'no confidence' that put it into a tailspin and has staffers speculating on how long the boss (Dan Rosenheim) will last.

"Meantime, Rosenheim just hired a 28-year old female MMR (multi-media reporter) just as the age and sex-discrimination lawsuit by two veteran laid-off staffers (Bill Schechner and John Lobertini) goes up to federal court. It's a mess."

Rosenheim did not reply to an e-mail from the Press Club for comment.