Former “Top Producer” Sues ABC6 and Parent Company for Discrimination

Former “Top Producer” Sues ABC6 and Parent Company for Discrimination

Longtime television sales executive David Jones has filed a federal lawsuit against ABC6 and its parent company, Standard Media Group, LLC.

Jones is well-known in the market for his long tenure at WJAR.  According to the lawsuit, "On or about June 27, 2022, Jones was hired by ABC6 to work as a Senior Account Executive and was assigned to the Providence office."

Now, he is claiming he was terminated due to age discrimination.

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“No Conventional Viewer Ratings”

According to the lawsuit, "In Jones’ new position for Defendant ABC 6, he was offered a salary of $42,000 annually plus commissions on all new TV and Digital Business and was provided with a transactional list of existing customers, at the manager’s discretion. Throughout Jones’ employment for ABC6, despite his brief tenure, he performed above and beyond the call of duty.”

“In addition to servicing a myriad of existing clients, Jones was the leader in new business sales—over $100,000.00 in just one year. This was no small feat given that Defendant ABC 6’s market share was so small that it had no conventional viewer rating,” said the lawsuit.

“At all relevant times, Jones was a loyal, experienced, productive, and dedicated employee of Defendants… never received any formal or written disciplinary or performance improvement action while employed by ABC6,” added the suit.

 

Salary Slashed

According to Jones’ lawsuit, “Despite Jones’ extraordinary success in new business sales, in January 2023, his base salary was arbitrarily reduced from $42,000 annually to $35,000 annually. This change was unilaterally made by Stan Knott (“Mr. Knott”), COO of Defendant Standard Media, over the objection of Jones’ manager, Mr. [Chip] Black. On information and belief, Mr. Knott worked primarily out of the principal office of Defendant Standard Media in Nashville, Tennessee. During a visit Mr. Knott made to the Providence newsroom, Jones’ attempted to speak with Mr. Knott to discuss the change in his salary, but Mr. Knott refused to speak with him.”

According to Standard Media’s website, “Stan had direct oversight responsibilities for 16 stations serving 12 markets. He also led marketing initiatives and national news and graphics hubs serving Media General’s 71 stations.”

 

 

Age Discrimination

The suit claims that Knott demonstrated discriminatory behavior.

“In April 2023, during a different visit to the Providence newsroom, Mr. Knott called an ‘all hands’ meeting ostensibly as a ‘pep-talk’ and to introduce a new viewer product. During his presentation, Mr. Knott asked, ‘How many of you are under 50? Raise your hands.’  This inquiry resulted in an audible gasp from his audience. After an uncomfortable delay, the majority of the people in the room raised their hands,” claims the suit.

“Jones was one of the minority present who did not raise their hand, as he was not under 50.  Mr. Knott went on to say, ‘All of you under 50 will be the drivers of our new success.’  Even after these obviously discriminatory remarks, Jones continued his attempts to engage Mr. Knott relative to his unexplained pay cut, in part so that he could remedy any real or perceived issues Mr. Knott had with his work,” said the suit.

“Notwithstanding Mr. Knott’s continued silence and the arbitrary reduction of his pay, Jones continued to work diligently to sell advertising time for Defendants’ broadcasts, despite their poor viewership,” according to the lawsuit.

“Despite this, on August 15, 2023, when Jones reported to work at 7:45 a.m., Jones was called in to a conference room and abruptly terminated without explanation, warning, progressive discipline, or opportunity to correct any purported work deficiency,” writes the lawsuit.

“Indeed, Plaintiff was a top producer and driver of new business and had no history of performance deficiencies or warnings, yet Defendants terminated his employment without even conducting a performance evaluation leaving the only reasonable explanation for his termination to be unlawful age discrimination,” claims the suit.

The lawsuit seeks:

An injunction or other equitable relief, including, but not limited to, an award of back pay, front pay or reinstatement, and other compensation and/or benefits, and to make Plaintiff whole for all earnings and benefits Plaintiff would have received but for Defendants’ unlawful conduct.

An award of compensatory damages.
An award of liquidated damages.
An award of exemplary and/or punitive damages.
An award of prejudgment interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.

GoLocal reached out to Standard Media Group for comment. They did not respond at the time of publication.