NEWS ABOUT RACISM AT CNN
CNN faces another racial
discrimination lawsuit, lawyer says
The Atlanta lawyer whose
racial discrimination suit against CNN was dismissed earlier this year says he
is re-filing the class action case – this time with a new set of plaintiffs and
even more alleged victims.
The network news
channel’s alleged racial discrimination is “as abhorrent as all of the sexual
harassment cases that are rightfully now being prosecuted,” Daniel R. Meachum
told Fox News. “Educated, well-intentioned, experienced and talented
African-Americans are being discriminated against.”
Celeslie Henley, a plaintiff in the first version, said she worked at CNN for
seven years until she was allegedly fired after emailing the human resources
department about discriminatory treatment. The suit also claimed that the
liberal network had a “glass ceiling” on the career paths of African-American
staffers.
The original lawsuit had
175 plaintiffs, but Meachum said 30 more alleged victims have come forward
since Judge William Duffey Jr. essentially ruled in July the case didn’t
have enough to move forward as a class action suit. “We are drafting a new
complaint, line by line, addressing the issues that he outlined for us,”
Meachum said.
The attorney also said
he understands proving discrimination is “a challenge,” but said the 205
plaintiffs involved “are not overly sensitive, walking around with chips on
their shoulder.”
The suit will be refiled
sometime this year, according to Meachum, who said he is still gathering the
necessary paperwork from the new plaintiffs. The news comes as CNN continues to
cause
problems for parent company Time Warner as it tries to complete an $84.5
billion deal with AT&T.
The original
suit “alleged CNN and sister companies claims that African-Americans
receive lower performance ratings in evaluations.”
Meachum said the new
suit’s 205 accusers will be named in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
action, and have a 90-day right-to-sue letter.
“My office has been contacted
consistently from people who worked there… talking about the discrimination at
CNN,” Meachum said.
Meachum said “95
percent” of the 205 people claim their discrimination occurred within the past
four years.
“With the information
that we have, and will get during discovery, I think we will be able to survive
a motion for summary judgement. At that point, I think we will be victorious,”
Meachum said.
CNN did not respond to
request for comment.
