CNN, Turner Hit With Racial Discrimination Complaints

A new court filing alleges that Turner employees faced racial discrimination that held them back in their careers and led to at least one former assistant being fired.  Roughly two dozen current and former employees of CNN and TBS (both owned by Turner) claim that there is a systematic problem with “discriminatory practices being implemented throughout all of Turner’s Networks [sic],” according to a complaint filed Tuesday evening.

According to lawnewz.com, the complaint cites statistics showing that black employees at Turner are promoted at a much lower rate than whites. The lawsuit alleges that this “can only be attributed to the fact that Turner, specifically CNN has implemented formal written and unwritten policies and practices regarding promotions.” The attorney who filed the complaint, Daniel Meachum, told LawNewz.com that the statistics were gathered by Turner themselves as part of an internal study.

Black employees also historically received lower scores on their evaluations, according to the complaint. “There is no objective factor other than race that can explain this disparity, since performance is not linked to job title or education,” it alleges.

One of the named plaintiffs, Ernie Colbert Jr., claims that in 19 years of working at TBS, he has only been promoted twice, and was paid less than his white coworkers. The other named plaintiff, Celeslie Henley, alleges that she suffered discrimination, and then lost her job after she complained. Henley claims that after she received discriminatory treatment from white managers, she complained to human resources, and was promptly terminated five days later.

Meachum is also representing DeWayne Walker, a CNN producer who is also currently suing the network for race discrimination in a separate action. Walker first filed his $50 million lawsuit in December 2015, claiming that he has been passed over for promotion throughout his career at CNN because of his race. He also alleges that the company retaliated against him after he brought a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.