Who is Sandra Maas? Ex-San Diego news anchor sues TV station for $10M after finding out co-host Allen Denton earned $90K more
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: A former news anchor is suing her old station claiming they violated California's Equal Pay Act after she was paid significantly less than her male co-anchor. According to the lawsuit filed in San Diego, Sandra Maas alleges KUSI paid her $90,000 less than co-anchor Allen Denton who she worked for years.
"It's humiliating to share everything that happened to me but I'm hoping to make a difference for other women in the workplace," Maas told CBS 8. Maas alleges that the TV station broke California labor and pay fairness law which forbids pay inequality for employees who do "substantially similar work."
READ MORE
Who is Sandra Maas?
The former KUSI news anchor worked with the firm for 18 years before the 60-year-old decided to depart. Initially, the lawsuit was filed in 2019, just a week after she resigned, seeking $10 million. Maas is suing the McKinnon Broadcasting Co., KUSI's operator, for unspecified damages for past and future lost wages, mental and emotional distress, including punitive damages, according to Daily Mail.
Maas and her attorney, Josh Gruenberg, allege that the TV station violated California Equal Pay Act and failed to prevent gender discrimination. "Under the Equal Pay Act, as amended effective January 1, 2019, an employer may not justify any pay difference between employees of the opposite sex, or employees of different race or ethnicity based on an employee's prior salary," California's Department of Industrial Relations states.
How did KUSI respond?
Maas and her co-anchor Allen Denton worked together for nearly 10 years on the KUSI nightly news. KUSI responded to the lawsuit saying Denton earned his $250,000 a year salary and blaming Maas as a "slacker who slammed her workplace." "For at least the last few years of her tenure as a KUSI news anchor, Maas was not a good team member or a dedicated journalist," said the KUSI trial brief, according to the Times of San Diego.
Thank you and farewell to all the KUSI viewers who have watched and supported me for the past 15 years. I’ll miss delivering the news to you. On to the next adventure... #KUSINews pic.twitter.com/PdgsGmEzJB
— Sandra Maas (@SandraMaas) June 17, 2019
"She worked far fewer hours than the male anchors…. She often arrived on set just barely in time to tape news breaks and go on air live to present the nightly news, causing problems for producers, news floor staff, writers, and co-workers," the station's lawyers claim. The TV station accused Maas of having an unprofessional attitude and treated her coworkers disrespectfully over the years. Lawyers claimed she described her former workplace as a "mess of a place."
'It’s humiliating'
However, Maas and Gruenberg denied the allegations noting she was underpaid for doing the same job as her co-worker. "Sandra was underpaid for doing the same job as her co-anchor for several years. We have an equal pay act in California and intend to put some teeth into it," Gruenberg told CBS 8. Maas who filed the lawsuit in 2019 is relieved her "day is finally here," adding she felt betrayed by her former workplace.
"It’s humiliating to share everything that happened to me but I’m hoping to make a difference for other women in the workplace," Maas told the outlet. "I'm relieved this day is finally here. It's scary, it's stressful. I feel betrayed. It has been three and a half years since I lost the job that I loved, and was devoted to, and dedicated my life to because I was fighting for equal pay."
