You may have noticed the young and beautiful female sports reporters that seem to be appearing ever more often across the sports TV channels now days. Is this because these young women are all enthusiastic sports fans or is there another reason? Could it be that just like Sports Illustrated lures sports fans with their swimsuit models on the front cover, these young, attractive reporters are all a part of a marketing strategy?
One 54-year-old reporter is claiming the latter. Colleen Dominguez, a Fox Sports 1 reporter, went to work for Fox in March, 2014. She claims to have been hired to “play a major role” in the station’s coverage as a “key personality.” However, it wasn’t long before the station began to decrease her assignments and she was left trying to obtain her own interviews. Dominguez claims she emailed the president of the company requesting more assignments, but was never responded to.
According to others at the station, Dominguez discovered that the way she appeared on camera was a concern for management. Allegedly, at one time, management even told a producer to splice her face and body from a video for a management meeting, which was never done for any other reporters. In an email to Dominguez from a long-time producer, she was told that she hadn’t done anything wrong and that “just because five men at a company want to be gratified by a 24-year-old woman” didn’t make her bad at her job.
Age discrimination is illegal. Workers over the age of 40 are protected by the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Dominguez has filed a lawsuit against Fox Sports 1 for discrimination based on age and gender and also for retaliation. Dominguez, a prior employee of ESPN, had a thriving career when she accepted the job with Fox Sports 1 and claims the lack of work assignments and coverage she has been given has damaged her career. Her suit requests damages for an amount unspecified.
Source: Deadspin, “Colleen Dominguez Accuses Fox Sports 1 Of Age Discrimination In Lawsuit,” Samer Kalaf, Dec. 17, 2015
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