Laid-off v.p. files latest NPR bias suit
Originally published in Current, Oct. 6, 1997
By Jacqueline Conciatore
Sandra Rattley-Lewis, onetime v.p. for cultural programming at NPR, has filed a suit alleging race discrimination and retaliation by the network. Her action brings to six the number of known discrimination suits filed against NPR in recent years.
Bernabei & Katz, the plaintiff's law firm in all but one of the six cases, says there are two more EEO complaints heading for litigation.
As a former v.p., Rattley-Lewis is the highest-ranking employee known to have brought a discrimination suit against NPR. Her complaint, filed Sept. 26 in Superior Court for the District of Columbia, says NPR demoted her while advancing less qualified whites, and failed to give her the same promotions and support that it gave white managers. She also complained that NPR refused her a severance package equal to that given white managers.
NPR said it was "shocked" by the suit. "This is not a case of discrimination. Ms. Rattley-Lewis' departure is the result of a structural reorganization," the company said in a release. Though NPR eliminated her job as part of downsizing, "performance issues were part of the negotiation," NPR says.
Her accusations could easily have stung her former boss--NPR President Delano Lewis, an African-American who once worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Prior to the suit, NPR and Rattley-Lewis were "working toward an amicable agreement relative to her separation," the company says.
Rattley-Lewis lost her position as head of cultural programming in 1996, when NPR made her head of the now-defunct Program Strategies Board (PSB), a panel of department heads that met to oversee new-program strategy. The job change was actually a demotion with a salary cut, she says.
When Lewis told Rattley-Lewis about the change, he had said her position would be abolished, according to the suit. But after she took the strategies board post, one of her former subordinates, Murray Horwitz, was promoted to v.p. for cultural programming. When she questioned Lewis, he said he had changed his mind, according to the suit. The suit says Horwitz has significantly less broadcast experience than Rattley-Lewis and alleges deficiencies in his work performance.
In June 1997, NPR abolished the PSB and put Mary Lou Kenny (then Mary Lou Joseph) in charge of programming services. Rattley-Lewis was riffed along with three others: longtime marketer Leslie Peters, Outreach Coordinator Sallie Bodie, and Anne Kaufman, director of audience services.
The suit alleges that others riffed had, like Rattley-Lewis, "been outspoken on the need for diversity in NPR."
"Pigeon-holed?"
The suit indicates that there was a falling out between Rattley-Lewis and President Delano Lewis early in the c.e.o.'s NPR career. Lewis "relied heavily" on Rattley-Lewis early on, and "included her in his decision-making," the suit says. But Rattley-Lewis turned down Lewis' offer to make her his special assistant in charge of public relations and EEO matters. She said it would be "inappropriate," given her broadcasting history and experience, and noted that "African-Americans who have advocated for equality are traditionally pigeon-holed in personnel positions." Lewis became "visibly upset" at this, and cut off Rattley-Lewis' access to him thereafter, according to the suit. "While Ms. Rattley-Lewis had previously met with Mr. Lewis on a near-daily basis, she was now unable to get an appointment with him," the suit says.
In NPR's official answer to this complaint, it says Lewis relied on Rattley-Lewis to the same extent as other senior NPR employees, and denies the other allegations.
The suit also says that Rattley-Lewis in 1992 was one of several NPR employees upset about the perceived stereotypical characterizations of African-Americans in the Peabody-Award-winning report "Ghetto Life 101." Following the heated newsroom debate, NPR held meetings to address diversity issues and, according to the suit, promised improvements that never materialized. Lewis was not appointed president until January 1994.
NPR did promote Rattley-Lewis after this incident, in March 1994, according to the suit.
"Complete faith"
The NPR Board is firmly behind Lewis, says Chair Kim Hodgson, who is also g.m. of WAMU, Washington. "Certainly, we haven't seen anything at this point that leads us to have anything other than complete faith in management," he said. "I have the feeling once you get be an organization with 400-some odd employees, you'll probably always have a lot of lawsuits." The board "is not a reticent crew," he said. "I'm sure if everyone had anything to say, we would."
Many minority employees say NPR suffers from a cronyism, in the newsroom at least, that stymies the career progress of minorities.
Lawyer Bernabei charges that the network has taken no steps to improve treatment of minorities, and insists many in the company are racist. Others dispute the claim. Says one observer: "For many years, predating Del Lewis' tenure, hiring a lawyer and threatening or filing a lawsuit has become a way of life at NPR, for anyone who's unhappy with nearly any personnel action."
NPR is currently fighting at least two discrimination lawsuits in addition to Rattley-Lewis'. Reporter Sunni Khalid, an African-American and Muslim, filed a race and religious discrimination suit in January, alleging that NPR failed to provide him with the same assignments, compensation, promotions and support that NPR provided white reporters. Khalid's suit also claims that foreign editor Loren Jenkins repeatedly made slurs against Muslims. Jenkins has not commented on the matter to Current.
Khalid's complaint is currently in arbitration, as required by NPR's collective bargaining contract with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
NPR recently transferred Khalid from the cultural desk to the Washington desk, a move his lawyers say is retaliatory. NPR spokesperson Judy Reese, however, says the change is "just a different assignment." Bernabei & Katz claims NPR recently told Khalid he would be put probation and then fired, but Reese says it never happened.
NPR broadcast engineer Susan Klein filed a disability discrimination and retaliation suit against NPR in May 1996. It claims that NPR failed to accommodate her needs for a regular daytime work schedule while she was undergoing and recuperating from chemotherapy. It also claims NPR retaliated against her for raising concerns about scheduling. NPR has said Klein failed to produce adequate proof of her need for special accommodations required under the Americans for Disability Act.
A gender discrimination suit brought by Katie Davis, then an NPR reporter, was settled out of court.
Earlier news: Reporter Sunni Khalid filed a discrimination suit against NPR earlier in the year.
Later story: NPR settles with Rattley, 2002.
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