Key Points:
- A judge ordered KMOV-TV’s parent Meredith to pay ex-meteorologist Meghan Danahey $826,000 after ruling she faced discrimination and retaliation.
- Danahey alleged a new scheduling plan demoted her, with male colleagues favored for weekday shifts and at-home gear during COVID-19.
- Judge Annette Llewellyn ruled Danahey’s 2020 firing was retaliation ahead of union arbitration, awarding lost wages, damages, and attorney fees.
A Missouri judge has ordered the parent company of a St. Louis television station to pay more than $826,000 to a former meteorologist who alleged discrimination and retaliation during her time at the St. Louis television station.
The award stems from a lawsuit filed by former KMOV-TV (Channel 4, CBS) weather forecaster Meghan Danahey, who said management decisions at the station created anxiety, depression and hindered her career prospects. Judge Annette Llewellyn ruled in her favor earlier this month.
“It has been a long and hard road for Meghan,” Danahey’s attorney Jerry Dobson said Monday. “It’s very gratifying to see she has been vindicated in a court of law.”
Lawyers for Meredith Corporation, KMOV-TV’s parent company, and news director Scott Diener did not immediately return requests for comment.
Danahey, whose legal name is Meghan Hodge, joined KMOV-TV in 2014 and spent about six years covering weekday weather segments. The situation began to change after Diener was hired as news director in 2016.
By early 2018, Diener proposed new schedules that moved Danahey and another female meteorologist to weekend shifts, while two male colleagues were given weekday duties. Danahey was also assigned general reporting tasks she had never performed.
Court records indicate she contacted her union and complained to human resources, but later discovered that the HR chief was a close friend of Diener and shared her concerns with him directly. Internal emails showed managers frequently discussed their frustration with her, records revealed.
In January 2020, the new schedule was implemented, leaving Danahey and her female colleague with just seven broadcasts per month, compared to 45 for their male peers. Llewellyn’s order found this amounted to a demotion, despite strong performance and ratings.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the station provided at-home broadcast equipment to male meteorologists, while requiring Danahey and her female counterpart to continue reporting from the studio. By September 2020, she was terminated, just months before a union arbitration hearing was set to take place. Station officials cited a company-wide reduction in force, but Llewellyn concluded her dismissal was retaliatory.
“Miraculously, a reduction in force was necessary in September 2020, according to Defendant, which it used as an opportunity to rid itself of (Danahey’s) constant complaining and what management believed was her unacceptable way of speaking to them,” the judge wrote.
Danahey later found work in Asheville, North Carolina, at lower pay. Llewellyn awarded her $326,800 in lost wages, $4,600 in relocation costs, $425,000 in punitive damages and $70,040 in legal fees.
