Commission Finds "Reasonable Cause" in Former Fox 61 Reporter's Discrimination Complaint

Shelly Sindland filed the complaint last July alleging conduct at Fox 61 that demonstrated age and gender discrimination against older female anchors. She has since left the station.

 

Her attorney, Gregg Adler says the commission's investigator concluded Sindland's complaint had merit after hearing testimony from a number of management employees and former anchors at the television station. 

 

"Based on all of that testimony, the investigator concluded there was reasonable cause to believe that in fact this environment that's hostile to older women existed including the transfer of Rebecca Stewart from the morning anchor to the weekend anchor and various issues with respect to Susan Christensen's departure from the station."

 

Adler says after former anchorwomen Susan Christensen and Rebecca Stewart left the station, Fox 61 hired much younger women to take their places. 

 

Sindland's complaint will now move to a public hearing before a judge where the testimony and evidence will be presented again. Adler says Sindland is pursuing this complaint to change the culture of television news.

 

"I think her hope is that this cultural situation changes not just at Fox 61 but at other stations because it's obviously an issue in broadcast journalism generally."

 

Andrea Savastra, a spokeswoman for Fox Connecticut released a statement, saying, the company objects to the Commission's findings and is confident the complainant will not ultimately prove her claims of illegal conduct.