Ex-NY1 Reporter's Sexual Harassment Suit Goes To Court

A former NY1 reporter who claims that her complaints about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment have kept her from new work opportunities will be in court this week. Adele Sammarco tells that the Daily News "in the nine years she's been off the air, she's been able to find work only in public relations jobs on Staten Island" and says, "I'm relieved my case is finally going to trial after a near-decade of fighting. I believe in equal pay for equal work and that no one should ever be abused on the job."

Sammarco grievances include how former reporter (and former spokesman for former Comptroller Bill Thompson) Jeff Simmons Photoshopped a picture of her to have huge breasts, former reporter Gary Anthony Ramsay "attacked" her while he was driving her how, many staffers "regularly referred to her by the acronym 'BBB' and later told her the nickname stood for 'Big Butt Booty'" and that Vice President of Programming Steve Paulus had "a dozen news assistants rate who had 'bigger boobs' - Sammarco or another reporter. Sammarco won."

She was fired in 2001, after complaining about Ramsay's behavior; Sammarco claims it was for her complaints but NY1 says she wasn't a good reporter. In court papers, the station says, "Simply put, Sammarco's claims of a hostile work environment are an after-the-fact work of fiction." Last year, the expected witness list included many local media personalities, including Dominic Carter and Jimmy Breslin. Carter, who was let go from the station when convicted of beating his wife, had left a voicemail for Sammarco saying she got a "raw deal."

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By Jen Chung in News on April 12, 2010 11:05 AM

Comments [rss]

JacqueMehoff

she got blackballed?

they got too many SI reporters on NY1 anyway, though now it seems they got them high society looking reporters with their pearls and silk blouses. blonde, of course.

she can't find work as a pharma rep? I saw that internet video of a reporter masturbating in the news truck and she got work.

S.K.

For many young reporters, NY1 is an ideal place to start their careers, before moving on to the major league stations. Without NY1, these reporters would need to start in Podunk before returning to New York.

The fact that so many of their reporters have Noo Yawk accents shows that this station prefers to hire locals, who know our neighborhoods, instead of Midwestern transplants from Columbia J-School.

But it is a small newsroom, and that makes it easier for office politics and gossip to spread around.

I am surprised that Adele Sammarco was not able to find another journalism job, and settled for PR work.

xgeyiph772

"...she's been able to find work only in public relations jobs on Staten Island." Yowza! Didn't even know there was one PR firm on SI. She must be a whiz at what she does.

Actually I remember her as being the SI reporter who could barely speak good English. She had a horrible New Dawp (New Dorp) accent, which is why I suspect she was let go.

vespavirgin

What what? There's a specific New Dorp accent?? I demand evidence. Having grown up in the Dorp, I'm rather shocked to hear this. Does it differ depending on whether you're closer to the train or the bus? Do the beach people's accents differ from those "above the Boulevard"? And how does that differ from the Grasmere accent? Grant City? Princes Bay? Do the Dorpians call those little bugs "potato bugs," and the denizens of Oakwood call them "armadillo bugs"? Please, elucidate.

And anyway, no one's NY accent is worse than Rosanna Scotto's on the local Fox news.

xgeyiph772

True dat (Scotto's accent). New Dorp accent is more heavy on the tounge, and not as nasal as a Mariner's Harbor accent. Nothing is as bad as an Eltingville accent though! (All this of course is meant in jest, my fellow Islanders, so chillax on the replies :)

5borough

LIES!

Every one knows Amanda Farinacci has the biggest boobs on NY1 and NY media in general.

xgeyiph772

"This is Amanda Far-rah-na-chi for New Yawk 1..." Gotta love it!

Stevennnn

Just being horny at work.

Såkandulæredet

Who lives in the east 'neath the willow tree?

Sexual Harassment Panda.

Who explains sexual harassment to you and me?

Sexual Harassment Panda.

"Don't say that! Don't touch there!

Don't be nasty!" says the silly bear.

He's come to tell you what's right and wrong.

Sexual Harassment Panda.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103574

robingee

Big Butt Booty? What are they, 8 years old?

schadenfreudian mensch

I guess this won't make it on John Schiumo "The Call" top ten.

schadenfreudian mensch

"A lawsuit filed against NY1 by a former anchor charging that the cable channel runs its newsroom like "a high school boys' locker room""

Apparently so.

patjenks

This goes to show you how important it is to avoid toxic workplaces in the first place. Job seekers shouldn't take new job offers until they done serious research into their future bosses on sites like eBossWatch http://www.ebosswatch.com