It is unlawful for California employers to mistreat workers based on any protected status characteristics, but this does not always prevent discrimination from occurring. Colleen Dominguez, former reporter for Fox Sports 1 Los Angeles, claims that she suffered employment discrimination because of her age. The veteran reporter has an impressive resume, having worked formerly with ESPN and NBC. She was hired by Fox Sports 1 in 2014, and, at that time, the network implied she would do well and have a lot of sports coverage assignments. The plaintiff alleges that she covered the 2014 NBA playoffs, but, after that, things began to change.
The 54-year-old could not understand why she was no longer receiving the work that she thought she should, but everything became clear after her co-workers informed her of what network management had been saying behind the scenes. Allegedly, the management team was worried about how Dominguez looked on camera, implying her age. She claims she received a text from a veteran Fox producer telling her that she was not bad at her job, but men want to see younger female reporters.
The plaintiff tried to take the situation into her own hands and find her own interviews with major sports stars, but she was allegedly told that this would create a situation for the other reporters. Dominguez had expected to cover the 2014 NHL playoffs and the 2015 Super Bowl, but she was assigned neither. She emailed the FS1 president to be given more assignments and was told he would look into the matter, but nothing ever happened.
Dominguez alleges that she stopped receiving assignments due to her age because younger, less-experienced reporters or older male reporters were getting them instead. In fact, a much younger female reporter covered the 2015 NFL season, according to Dominguez’s complaint. Dominguez filed an employment discrimination claim in a federal court in California against the network and is seeking damages for what she has suffered.
Source: thewrap.com, “Fox Sports 1 Reporter Sues Network for Age Discrimination“, Debbie Emery, Dec. 18, 2015