WPIX/Channel 11 yesterday beat back age-discrimination claims from a former news director who said she was fired as part of a scheme to oust older workers.
A Manhattan federal jury ruled against plaintiff Karen Scott midway through its second day of deliberations.
Scott’s lead lawyer, Kenneth Rubinstein, said Scott hadn’t decided whether to appeal.
“We proved at the trial that Karen’s termination [at age 60 in 2009] was motivated by age. Obviously, the jury didn’t agree,” Rubinstein said.
The case featured testimony from veteran Channel 11 news anchor Kaity Tong, who said her salary was slashed in 2009 following a highly critical “performance-improvement memo” that she called “baseless.”
Tong recently turned 65 and is now a weekend anchor at the station.
The station said it fired Scott because of sagging ratings that cost it millions of dollars in ad revenues.
WPIX and former general manager Betty Ellen Berlamino still face similar age-discrimination suits filed by the station’s former sports anchor, Sal Marchiano, and former features reporter Larry Hoff.