Sandra Maas Wiki – Sandra Maas Biography
A former news anchor is suing her former station alleging they violated California’s Equal Pay Law after she was paid significantly less than her male co-anchor. According to the lawsuit filed in San Diego, Sandra Maas alleges that KUSI paid her $90,000 less than co-anchor Allen Denton, with whom she worked for years. “It’s humiliating to share everything that happened to me, but I hope to make a difference for other women in the workplace,” Maas told CBS 8.
Maas alleges the television station violated California’s pay and employment equity law that prohibits pay inequality for employees doing “substantially similar work.” The former KUSI news anchor worked with the firm for 18 years before the 60-year-old decided to leave. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2019, just a week after he resigned, seeking $10 million.
Sandra Maas Age
Sandra Maas is 60 years old.
Incident Detail
Maas is suing McKinnon Broadcasting Co., the operator of KUSI, for unspecified damages for past and future lost wages, mental and emotional anguish, including punitive damages, according to the Daily Mail. Maas and her attorney, Josh Gruenberg, allege the television station violated California’s Equal Pay Law and failed to prevent gender discrimination.
“Under the Equal Pay Act, as amended effective January 1, 2019, an employer may not justify any difference in pay between employees of the opposite sex or employees of a different race or ethnicity based on an employee’s prior salary,” Department of California Industrial Relations states Maas and her co-anchor Allen Denton worked together for nearly 10 years on the KUSI nightly news.
KUSI responded to the lawsuit by saying Denton earned a salary of $250,000 a year and blaming Maas as a “lazy slacker who criticized her workplace.” “For at least the last few years of her tenure as KUSI news anchor, Maas was neither a good team member nor a dedicated journalist,” the KUSI trial report said, according to the Times of San Diego.
“I worked far fewer hours than the male anchors… I often made it to the set barely in time to record news breaks and go live to present the evening news, causing problems for producers, staff editorial staff, writers and collaborators, workers”, say the station’s lawyers. The television channel accused Maas of being unprofessional and she treated her co-workers disrespectfully over the years. Lawyers claimed that she described her former workplace as a “messy place.”
However, Maas and Gruenberg denied the allegations, saying she was underpaid for doing the same work as her co-worker. “Sandra was underpaid for doing the same job as her co-anchor for several years. We have an equal pay law in California and we intend to improve it,” Gruenberg told CBS 8. Maas, who filed the lawsuit in 2019, feels relieved. The her “day of hers finally came,” adding that she felt betrayed by her former workplace.
“It’s humiliating to share everything that happened to me, but I hope to make a difference for other women in the workplace,” Maas told the outlet. “I’m relieved that this day has finally come. It’s scary, it’s stressful. I feel betrayed. It’s been three and a half years since I lost the job I loved, dedicated myself to, and dedicated my life to because I was fighting for the equal pay.”
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