Fired Atlanta Anchor Sues Station

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Back in April, FTVLive told you that Meredith WGCL (Atlanta) had fired longtime Weather Anchor Paul Ossmann.

Now Ossman is suing the station for “racially and ethnically discriminatory termination,” and accusing the Meredith station of fostering a “racially hostile work environment.”

Station sources tell FTVLive that WGCL GM Lyle Banks sent an internal email out to the staff addressing the lawsuit and saying that Ossman was fired because of complaints from his female coworkers. He didn’t say what the complaints were about.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution writes that WGCL says that Ossmann’s discharge was not only appropriate, but necessary and consistent with our values. Meredith will defend vigorously against Mr. Ossmann’s false allegations that attempt to obscure that fact.

In the lawsuit, filed on July 12 in the United States Northern District of Georgia against Meredith, Ossmann said he was first suspended in April “for allegedly making an inappropriate comment to a co-worker.”

He said he “was not given a written statement from the co-worker, nor allowed to provide a written statement in response.” He was then terminated with two years remaining on his contract.

He said the “alleged comment was completely innocuous.”The name of the aforementioned co worker was not released in the lawsuit or by the employer.

Sources say that Ossman is planning on using some of the notes that were passed between former Anchor Sharon Reed and current Anchor Thomas Roberts in his case.

Stay tuned…