Reporter wins case against KHON

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A federal jury decided yesterday that KHON executives violated news reporter Mary Zanakis' rights when they gave her a new assignment and later fired her after she returned from maternity leave.

"I think every woman who goes out on maternity leave needs to be protected and the law says they should be," Mary Zanakis said after the verdict. Advertiser library photo

The trial provided a glimpse into the competitive and, at times, brutal business of local TV news and featured testimony from Channel 2 personalities like Joe Moore and Leslie Wilcox who bluntly derided Zanakis' work as well as her professionalism.

But beyond the gossip grist stirred up by the trial, the verdict ends one of the most high-profile cases in Hawai'i involving a woman who said she was forced out of her job because she took leave to have a baby.

"I think every woman who goes out on maternity leave needs to be protected and the law says they should be," Zanakis said after the verdict.

The station had argued during the two-week trial that Zanakis' reassignment and later dismissal in 1999 had nothing to do with her going on maternity leave but was the result of budget cuts imposed by the station owner, Emmis Communications of Indianapolis, and a decline in the quality of her work. Zanakis had been at the station for more than 18 years.

Moore, the popular anchor of the station's nightly newscasts, testified that he believed Zanakis was "just going through the motions" when she returned from maternity leave.

Moore said yesterday he was troubled by the verdict.

"Like an increasing number of people who view the courtroom as a legal slot machine, Mary Zanakis went in without a case, pulled the lever, got a sympathetic jury and won some money," he said.

As Zanakis was preparing to return to the Fox affiliate from maternity leave in early 1999, she was told her position as a reporter on the health beat was eliminated and that she would be a general assignment reporter.

The jury of three men and three women deliberated Friday afternoon and yesterday morning before deciding that KHON violated Zanakis' rights under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Her attorney and former husband, Thomas Pico, said it will be up to U.S. District Judge David Ezra to decide if Zanakis should be reinstated at KHON or is entitled to any or all of the $770,000 in "future lost wages" she is also seeking. That figure is based on her firing from her $71,000 job at KHON and accepting a job at KITV for about $45,000 a year.

No date has been set yet by Ezra to consider the future earnings claim.

While the jury awarded $113,500 to Zanakis, they found several mitigating circumstances in favor of KHON amounting to $26,500, reducing the amount the station must pay her to $87,000.

Pico said it may be years, however, before Zanakis receives any money primarily because he expects the station to appeal.

Attorney Bruce Voss, who represented Emmis, former news director Jim McCoy and former station general manager Kent Baker, said he was disappointed by the verdict and said it went against "the clear testimony of everyone who testified at trial."

In addition to Moore, those who testified included Wilcox, who said Zanakis was causing tension on the morning show, and former morning show co-anchor Ron Mizutani, who characterized Zanakis' reporting as weak.

Voss said he would have to discuss the case with Emmis executives before deciding whether to appeal.

In response to the criticism leveled at her during the trial by former colleagues, Zanakis said: "Obviously, the jury did not find them credible."

Zanakis began working at KITV, the ABC affiliate, in February 2000.

"I was worried all along about being labeled as a troublemaker," Zanakis said. "My colleagues at KITV have been very supportive. They know my work, and they know my professionalism."

Zanakis said during the trial and again yesterday that in her five years working on the morning show her supervisors and co-workers never once discussed with her any criticisms or concerns.

Zanakis' lawsuit was the third filed against the station in recent years by former staff members. Barbara Marshall sued the station alleging age, gender and sex discrimination while former sportscaster Bob Hogue alleged age and race discrimination. They reached out-of-court settlements with KHON.

Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.