Ex-anchor files lawsuit against CBS Miami

Longtime South Florida investigative reporter Michele Gillen has filed an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against WFOR-Ch. 4, the Miami CBS station.

In the suit filed Friday in Miami federal court and first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the former chief investigative reporter alleges discrimination and bullying going as far back as 2010.

Gillen, who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity in Dec. 2016, was given the green light to sue last month. She is looking for lost wages and reinstatement of her full benefits, according to the suit.

Gillen, a former WPLG-Ch. 10 reporter and anchor in the

1970s and 1980s and then a NBC News correspondent, worked at the CBS station in Los Angeles in 1995 before moving to WFOR in March 1997 as an investigative reporter. During her time at WFOR, she won 25 regional Emmy awards out of 46 nominations. She worked there until Dec. 2016.

In the suit, the 63-year-old Miami resident claimed that news managers reassigned stories that she would come up with to younger reporters or male reporters and that she was then “assigned less desirable projects and given little to no support in producing the assigned projects.”

After complaining to human resources in Miami, she was told that “bad karma would catch up to the people doing it,” the suit said.

Gillen’s suit also claimed that she was “barred from high-profile assignments” and her air time was reduced.

She also described the Doral station as a “good ‘ole boys club culture” and a “hostile den of intimidation and disrespect.”

In the suit, she highlighted WFOR investigative reporter Jim DeFede and claimed that he made disparaging comments about her and about women in general. Gillen alleged that in a 2014 special projects staff meeting, DeFede said that he didn’t want to figure out which of his stories would appeal to “women who are menstruating and watching ‘Blue Bloods,’ ” according to The Miami New Times.

Gillen then took a leave of absence from the station. After returning, she discovered that was removed as the host of her public affairs program “Focus on South Florida” and replaced by then anchor Irika Sargent (who left WFOR for the CBS station in Chicago).

Gillen’s attorney did not immediately respond for comment on the suit. DeFede, the host of “Facing South Florida” on WFOR Sunday mornings, said by email, “Sorry any statement involving the suit has to come from CBS.”

CBS Television Stations released this statement: “We are confident that Michele Gillen was treated fairly when she worked for WFOR-TV, and station management’s decision to not renew her contract in 2016 was justified. Her claims are factually inaccurate and will not survive scrutiny.”