The employee worked for Saga Communications in Des Moines, and was most closely associated with its KAZR “Lazer 103.3” Rock station and Hot Adult Contemporary leader KSTZ “Star 102.5.”
There were claims of sexual harassment, she says. But, they weren’t addressed, she adds. In fact, this individual says in a lawsuit, she was dismissed for bringing the claims to the attention of the company.
It’s a matter being reported by the local newspaper that few can speak about at this time.
According to the Des Moines Register, a female account executive for Saga’s “Des Moines Radio Group” was a victim of “unwanted touching” by her manager. The woman also claims men were given “better accounts.”
The story was posted to the newspaper’s website on Thursday (4/7). As of 3:30pm local time, no other media outlets had picked up on the story.
At the corporate level, a source tells RBR+TVBR they were unaware of the matter and offered no other comment.
At the Des Moines Radio Group, another source tells RBR+TVBR that they were also unaware of the claims and that no discussions had been had at the stations on the subject. Asked if a female sales associate had departed recently, the source commented, “There has been lots of turnover. A guy just left today. That’s just the nature of the business, especially after the pandemic.”
RBR+TVBR spoke with William Morris, the Des Moines Register court reporter, who covered the story. He shared a copy of his report, which offers more insight to how a former employee of Des Moines Radio Group claims her manager harassed and discriminated against her and other female workers. The dismissed female Saga staffer claims that the company fired her after she protested to “senior executives.”
Interestingly, the lawsuit was filed February 23 against Saga and several Saga employees. The Des Moines Register does not name alleged victims of sexual misconduct without their consent, and the woman through her attorneys declined to be named or interviewed.
The complaint also includes age, sex discrimination and retaliation claims and seeks
unspecified damages, Morris’ report states.
A ‘HOPE’-FUL CLAIM
The plaintiff worked as an advertising account executive for Des Moines Radio Group from 2014 until she was fired in 2020, the complaint states. Importantly, in 2018 she was assigned a new manager, Michael Hope.
The claims are largely against Hope. According to Morris’ report, the plaintiff claims that after she eventually asked Hope to stop the touching, and refused to ride in a car with him to sales appointments, he reduced her salary by about $7,500 per year, allegedly out of dislike for her “pay structure.”
The plaintiff further claims that in 2020, Hope tried to discipline her for missing sales targets, but that he misstated her sales goals and failed to discipline other coworkers who had performed similarly.
When Hope was not disciplined for her alleged claims, the plaintiff was transferred to Chris Forgy, who serves as VP of Operations.
In March 2020, about three months after the plaintiff reported Hope was wrongly trying to discipline her, she was fired, Morris reports. She declined to sign a severance agreement, which she claims did not include compensation for unused vacation time.
Morris’ report concludes with a note that, according to court records, at least one prior employment discrimination case against Saga, filed in 2010, exits. But the case was later dismissed and online records do not contain details of the allegations.
