MIAMI, Sept. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Michele Gillen is a 39 time Emmy Award winning investigative reporter, having accumulated over twenty-five Emmy awards for her insightful and in-depth investigative reporting during her tenure at CBS owned and operated station WFOR-TV in Miami. As Chief Investigative Reporter she received consistent accolades from peers and the community and has been consistently credited with effectuating positive changes to public policy.
As she says, “For 19 years I had the honor of working as an investigative reporter at the CBS owned and operated station WFOR-TV in Miami, Florida. This is a community that I dearly love and call home. For most of those years and until my last day at the station, I wore the mantel of the Chief Investigative Reporter. That meant a lot to me. Especially as an investigative journalist who happens to be a woman.”
Napoli Shkolnik PLLC has now filed a lawsuit against CBS alleging age and gender discrimination, and retaliation under the civil rights act for Ms. Gillen. Attorney Louise R. Caro comments “In a year when five of the station’s Emmy nominations were for Ms. Gillen’s work, her career was unnecessarily extinguished.” The lawsuit alleges that WFOR-TV is a hostile environment which “fosters misogyny, places men on a pedestal, elevates and protects men despite bad behavior, and emboldens and protects bullies, who often help push women out. Many women endure the abuse as a cost of the pursuit of a successful career in journalism. Women who dare to report this type of abuse and discrimination, even when following CBS reporting policies, pay the ultimate price.”
Gillen shares, “Every case of abuse is personal. In my case, it was a weapon to break down my will to continue in the face of adversity. CBS condoned these tactics in normal daily interaction toward me and other highly qualified journalists, to marginalize, and ultimately exclude them. While it is difficult to publicly share the extent of what I endured in the toxic, misogynistic culture at WFOR-TV, keeping secret the company's approved behavior and treatment of me and other female employees is wrong. Nothing will change if it is not brought to light.”
Ms. Gillen is represented by Marie Napoli, Esq. and Louise Caro, Esq. of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC. The case is Gillen v. CBS and the case number is 1:18-cv-23788.
About Napoli Shkolnik PLLC
Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is a national litigation firm providing representation to plaintiffs in class actions and complex commercial litigation, as well as victims of environmental contamination disasters, aviation accidents, defective prescriptions drugs and medical devices, asbestos-related illnesses, and other serious personal injury matters. With their principal offices in New York City and additional offices in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and affiliates through the United States, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is readily available to clients.
Contact Information
Louise R. Caro, Partner
LCaro@NapoliLaw.com
Cell: (954) 632-0569
2665 South Bayshore Drive, Suite 220
Coconut Grove, Florida 33133
www.NapoliLaw.com