EEOC Sues FNC over Herridge Complaint…

The AP’s Sam Hananel writes about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suing FNC because of a complaint FNC reporter Catherine Herridge made…(via J$)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Fox News Channel reporter Catherine Herridge filed an internal complaint about allegedly discriminatory practices in 2007.

Fox found no evidence of bias, but the EEOC says the network later included language in Herridge’s employment contract intended to stop her from making any more complaints.

Herridge refused to sign the contract. The network agreed to remove the language after she complained to the EEOC.

36 Responses to “EEOC Sues FNC over Herridge Complaint…”

  1. from the AP piece: Federal authorities are suing the Fox News Network for allegedly retaliating against a reporter after she complained about unequal pay and job conditions based on her gender and age.

    Guess it really is hard on a woman who’s well past 30 and isn’t a giggly, flirtatious blonde in too-tight clothing.

  2. Ha!

    I will never forget (and probably wrote about it here) when Catherine Herridge was reporting on some significant story, from some D.C. place of importance, while wearing a halter dress!

    This was probably a few years ago, maybe even in the timeframe as referenced in the article. I couldn’t believe it. And since then, I’ve seen other Fox reporters (female, of course) wear similar attire, which seemed equally inappropriate.

    So I’m wondering exactly what her problem is with Fox. They seem to give her ample on-air opportunities in reporting from the nation’s capitol. and apparently has no dress code under which she must abide.

  3. Maybe she was pressured to dress like that, as it doesn’t seem to be her usual style? Maybe she felt that she wasn’t getting the salary she felt she earned, while others who do less and are capable of far less get more? Maybe she felt that certain people were getting preferential treatment, based on looks and willingness to dress and act like skanks?

    Who knows?

  4. I’ll never forget O’Reilly, sitting across from Blond A and Blond B, casually discussing how women ‘age out of the business’. Thanks for the heads-up, sport.

  5. Something doesn’t smell quite right about this story. I suspect we’ll see or read something somewhere from Catherine Herridge disavowing the EEOC’s action. As an on-air talent whose livelihood is negotiated through an agent, this sort of publicity could really narrow her field of potential employers.

  6. Missy, I’m not clear what her attire has to do with the complaint. It mentions pay and age discrimination. Unless I missed the part where she complained about being forced to wear skimpy clothes, it doesn’t apply.

  7. I think Herridge is a crap reporter! Plus she was plain awful in the anchor chair a while back.

    “the network later included language in Herridge’s employment contract intended to stop her from making any more complaints”

    Nothing like a little attempted muzzle action, eh?

  8. Wait..Fox News treats women like props to be used then tossed aside? Imagine..

  9. I think Herridge is really good on the homeland security beat. She’s gotten a lot of access to gitmo.

  10. As with most “discrimination” claims, this one makes me yawn.

  11. Yeah, discrimination is one of those “problems” invented by liberals. Never happens.

  12. She does do a good job on the Homeland Security beat and provided insightful commentary for Gitmo discussions on several shows.

    She’s same age as Martha MacCallum. Just younger than Claudia Cowan, and Jamie Colby, a year older than Gretchen Carlson, and only 5 years older than Patti Ann Browne, Alisyn Camerota & Juliet Huddy. Heck, she ten years younger than Greta. That “based on gender and age” doesn’t seem very likely.

  13. I don’t know who “invented” it but it makes me yawn. After I graduated from college, I tried to get into the Marine Corps (corpse for Obama) OCS. I went through the entire process, passed my PFT & signed the papers. However, I got rejected. The head dude at the OCS recruting station in Houston: a Rice gradudate, Captain in then USMC & black dude, told me I was rejected because I was an “average candidate”. He went on to explain that as a white guy, I had to have a better GPA & better PFT score. He said that the USMC wanted minority officers and if you were white you had to score much higher than a “non-minority”.

    Everybody is discriminated against. Some of us just have to deal with it.

  14. Really? I would like to see how this plays out.

  15. Everybody is discriminated against. Some of us just have to deal with it.

    Yeah, I lose out to tall guys with deep pockets, too. That doesn’t change the fact that some people are genuinely discriminated against in an illegal manner. Herridge may or may not have had a case, but age/wage discrimination isn’t a made-up issue.

  16. Age/wage/gender/ethnicity are not made-up issues of discrimination; they are sometimes exaggerated or falsely claimed ones, however.

  17. …they are sometimes exaggerated or falsely claimed ones, however.

    For the record, I don’t think I implied the opposite. That’s the rewrite. The original draft was “No shyte!” ;-)

  18. My issue wasn’t made up either. Tha’t something I had wanted to do for a long time. I was basically denied based on race.

    Somehow, if I were a different color or gender, I think you’d take my story a little more serious.

  19. I’ll reword it, LS. I didn’t intend to discount your case; I was reacting to your initial presentation of all discrimination cases as “yawners”, which I took to mean that you think it’s all BS.

    I think your case sucks, and some age/wage cases suck, also.

  20. I get it Joe & I didn’t mean for my post to come across as “whiney” as it read. I basically believe that discrimination prolly happens to everybody & it’s a part of life that you have to deal with. At least, that’s how I was raised.

    One more story (for perspective). I graduated from college $50K in debt. My Mom filled out tons of grant apps that I didn’t qualify for. The powers that be said my parents made too much money. Of course, my Mom was a secretary & my Dad worked in a warehouse and I was the 4th of 4 kids. It’s fine by me that I had to pay my own way, however, it’s not fine by me that others from similar backgrounds but with different last names or skin colors were given money that I wasn’t eligible for.

  21. I hear you, LS, but that is a larger discussion about race and preferences. Herridge apparently felt shoved around at Fox News because of her gender and age. Some of those cases are legitimate. That’s all I’m saying.

  22. True, Joe, but it all explains why discrimination suits make me yawn. I guess it was a lengthy, round-a-bout way of me explaining my original comment.

    That’s what you get for challenging me. Lengthy, boring stories. That’ll make you think twice!

  23. Lengthy, boring stories.

    Pull up a chair, son. When I was boy…

  24. LS, you should go over to Mexico, come back over the border illegally and try to get Harry Reid to pay off your loan via the DREAM act.

    But your status as a white guy will get you nada!

  25. Missy. ;-)

    It’s kind of unnerving that I find that funny instead of offensive. Liking people you disagree with is confusing..

  26. Joe, it’s not offensive, it’s true.

    Red Eye will be on soon. Hope I’m asleep by then.

  27. Red Eye! Did you see An Coulter on last night? They were going after O’Keefe, and Ann kept saying “Why isn’t anybody bashing Stephen Colbert for his stunt before Congress?” Everybody slammed it, and what the heck does that have to do with planning to seduce a CNN reporter on a boat? I like Ms. Coulter when she’s on that show, but that was strange.

  28. And this morning, we turned on F&F with substitute Ainsley Earhardt and learned that Pete Rose is replacing Rahm Emmanuel. Then we promptly changed the channel.

    We can see why Ms. Herridge might be a bit frustrated.

  29. Pete Rose

    Oh my God.

  30. Catherine is the most boring, dull little twit on FNC.
    She sits, never moving, reading her material like
    a puppet. Borrrring!

  31. I have to agree with you, Lyons. I never paid much attention to her, so I sat up when she came on this morning. Unless there’s a law about discriminating against cold, boring reporters, she doesn’t have a case.

  32. “And this morning, we turned on F&F with substitute Ainsley Earhardt and learned that Pete Rose is replacing Rahm Emmanuel.”

    OK, I’ll bite. Did she actually say that or are you just pissed that they used AE this AM? And if she did say it did anyone know enough to correct her?

  33. Yes, Fritz, she said it. Even Spurty admits it (scroll to the bottom) http://tvnewscaps.rapidboards.com/index.php?showtopic=36&st=150

    Not an isolated incident for this woman. If not for the bleached, flat ironed extensions and too-tight, too short clothing, she wouldn’t have an on-air job. Remember, this is the same woman who cannot pronounce “Zurich” nor the name of anybody who was famous before she was born.

    When Ted Kennedy died, I remember reading (maybe it was here?) that she said something to the effect that despite his politics, he was a good American.

    And she’s the smarter of the two (between her and Friel).

    It doesn’t take a genius (or even a 5th grader) to figure out why Earhardt and Friel still get time on the air.

  34. When Ted Kennedy died, I remember reading (maybe it was here?) that she said something to the effect that despite his politics, he was a good American.

    Right here..from me. What a night that was. “We’re flying by the seat of our pants now.” “I’m up against a hard break.” My favorite part was the shuffling of Wiki printouts to help her out with his history. ‘Cause Ted Kennedy was such an obscure figure, and died so suddenly..

  35. Personally, I don’t mind when anchors/newsreaders admit that they’re “flying by the seat of [their] pants” during fast breaking news or that they’re up against a hard break (even experienced anchors like Shep and Megyn use that when guests get longwinded and are about to be cut off automatically).

    Neither of us was awake to see the debacle that night, but from what we read here, it was an embarrassment, to put it mildly. You’re right, Joe, in that she should have had at least some basic knowledge about a man who was such a historic politician and figured into (then) current events.

  36. David de SerresThe Campaign Against Harry Reid: Another example of corruption of our government officials by a corporate entity. I am ddeserres_2004 on this message board (or was until yahoo killed by account) and david deserres on flickr.com (which I can lo longer log into either).

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddeserres/

    http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_(A_to_Z)/Stocks_C/threadview?m=tm&bn=4346&tid=202728&mid=204977&tof=2&frt=2

    Follow the links……

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