United States: CFWIJ condemns Charter Communications for their discriminatory acts against five women ex-employees.

February 12, 2021, New York: Journalists Roma Torre, Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee, and Amanda Farinacci filed a complaint against Charter Communications with the city Human Rights Commission. The complaint claimed that Charter Communications snubbed their work for the Emmy Awards submission consideration because of the conflict between the two parties. 

Roma Torre, Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee, and Amanda Farinacci and their employer company Charter Communications came into conflict in 2019, when the now ex-employees sued the company for its prevalent misogynistic work culture. However, these weren’t the only women who were party to that legal complaint. Several women journalists complained that producers at Charter discriminated on the basis of age and gender, and experienced news hosts were constantly set aside, for younger, less experienced employees on the basis of physical appearance. Women journalists also alleged that female employees faced incessant sexual harassment at the workplace, and are berated when they refuse these advances. Roma Torre, Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee, and Amanda Farinacci were the five employees who decided to resign from Charter Communication after settling out of court.

On Tuesday, the five women claimed that the management at Charter Communications deliberately snubbed their work while considering potential candidates for Emmy Award nominations. The complainants argue that this is in retaliation for the litigation they filed against the company, and the company has “reversed course” on their agreement to submit the complainants’ work for prestigious award considerations. In response representatives from Charter said that the plaintiffs are free to submit their projects in a personal capacity, however, the women do not have access to the recordings of their on-air work which are with Charter. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns this discrimination against former employees by Charter Communications due to personal biases. The management at Charter Communications is not only going back on its word, they are also resorting to what are playground bullying tactics to harass former employees. This is unjust and reprehensible behaviour.