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A former anchor for One America Information has settled a grievance with the far-right community that alleges she was subjected to a hostile work surroundings, discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination.
In her grievance, Jessamyn Dodd additionally claims that one other co-worker “falsely reported” to the community’s human assets director that Dodd was “primarily a Neo-Nazi and Adolph Hitler supporter,” an allegation she stated was “patently false and particularly offensive” contemplating her Jewish heritage.
Dodd, who labored as a weekend anchor for the Trump-boosting channel from August 2022 till she was fired within the fall of 2023, claimed in her swimsuit that after she complained to the community about her colleague’s “discriminatory conduct” and the hostility it created within the office, OAN ultimately terminated her in retaliation fairly than treatment the scenario.
The phrases of the settlement weren’t disclosed, and Dodd declined to remark apart from to say that the case had been resolved and she or he was happy.
Filed earlier this yr in San Diego County Superior Courtroom, close to One America Information’ headquarters, Dodd named OAN author Katie Smith and Herring Community — the company mother or father of the channel – as defendants within the grievance.
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“After turning into one among Defendants’ most dependable anchors, DODD was subjected to office racism and discriminatory therapy by her coworker KATIE SMITH, together with false accusations that DODD was a Neo-Nazi supporter — claims that had been particularly offensive given DODD’s Jewish heritage,” the grievance said. “When DODD complained concerning the hostile work surroundings, DEFENDANT HERRING NETWORKS, INC. did not take any remedial motion and as an alternative terminated her employment in retaliation.”
Along with her allegations of office harassment and discrimination, Dodd additionally accused the community of wage theft and illegal employment practices underneath the California Honest Employment and Housing Act, claiming that the corporate failed to offer correct meal and relaxation intervals and furnish compliant wage statements.
“DODD was usually compelled to work via breaks as a consequence of understaffing and a demanding schedule that required her to arrange and anchor a number of reveals per day with out enough help workers,” the grievance asserted. “When DODD requested lodging and complained about these violations, DEFENDANT HERRING NETWORKS, INC. responded dismissively and did not take any corrective motion.”
Noting that she is “a multi-racial girl of African American, Caucasian, and Jewish descent,” Dodd stated in her grievance that all through her employment, she was “subjected to a hostile work surroundings, together with office racism and snide feedback from Defendant Smith, a Caucasian girl who labored alongside” Dodd.
At one level, in line with the grievance, Dodd alleged that Smith instructed the community’s human assets accounting and payroll director and different co-workers that Dodd was “primarily a Neo-Nazi and Adolph Hitler supporter — claims that had been patently false and particularly offensive given PLAINTIFF’s Jewish heritage”
Claiming that the “false statements severely broken” her skilled and private popularity “by knowingly and maliciously disseminating and/or publishing false statements” that disparaged her character, Dodd accused the community of disregarding her complaints about Smith’s conduct.
“As a substitute, shortly after PLAINTIFF’s complaints, DEFENDANT HERRING terminated her employment in retaliation, in specific violation of California legislation and public coverage,” the grievance said.
Previous to her termination, Dodd claimed she was frequently overworked and the community refused to permit her to take “correct relaxation breaks” all through her employment at OAN. She additionally stated within the grievance that she was compelled to tackle extra roles as a result of community’s incapability to retain workers.
“The dearth of breaks stemmed from DEFENDANT HERRING’s steady understaffing and excessive turnover charge, which compelled PLAINTIFF to carry out quite a few duties outdoors her job description with out extra compensation,” the grievance alleged. “PLAINTIFF requested extra protection and lodging on quite a few events, similar to co-hosts for her reveals or longer break intervals between reveals, however these requests had been by no means granted.”
The swimsuit continued: “When PLAINTIFF addressed the shortage of breaks and the ensuing psychological and bodily fatigue, her supervisors and coworkers responded disparagingly, claiming she shouldn’t fear since ‘nobody even watches the information on weekends.’”
Representatives for One America Information and Smith didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
OAN, which now has an virtually non-existent footprint on tv after shedding all its main cable carriers, is not any stranger to settling lawsuits. Final yr, the community settled the defamation case introduced by voting software program agency Smartmatic, which accused the hard-right channel of trumpeting baseless conspiracy theories that voting machines rigged the 2020 election towards Donald Trump.
The community additionally reached a settlement in September 2023 with a former Dominion Voting Machines government over false claims that he and Dominion had engaged in a large election fraud scheme. Moreover, as a part of a 2022 settlement settlement with two Georgia election employees caught up in vote-rigging conspiracy theories, OAN ran a section acknowledging there was “no widespread voter fraud” within the 2020 election.
