Court Says No Proof California TV Station Discriminated

A federal appeals court has ruled that two veteran San Francisco, Calif., television reporters who were laid off were not victims of age discrimination.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Tuesday that former KPIX-TV reporters Bill Schechner and John Lobertini failed to offer enough evidence to support their discrimination lawsuit against the station.

The court said that the station explained that general-assignment reporters whose contracts expired the earliest were laid off first and that news anchors and “specialty reporters” were spared to protect the station’s image.

The two Emmy-winning reporters were among 14 newsroom employees dismissed in March 2008 in what the station described as a cost-cutting move.

Schechner was 66-years-old at the time, Lobertini was 47-years-old.

The ruling by the appeals court comes after a federal judge dismissed the suit in January 2011.