Gender discrimination is still very much alive and kicking, but Emmy-award-winning reporter Rachel Yonkunas is hitting back, suing the channel that she claims unjustly fired her.
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With her track record, News12 Long Island would struggle to say she wasn't up to scratch. However, she claims she was repeatedly sidelined, placed beneath male co-workers, and ignored during her time there.
When she finally decided to speak out about the unfair treatment, she says she was placed on an improvement program. After hitting all her targets, Rachel Yonkunas was offered a lower salary and a worse position. After taking her time to respond to the bad offer, she was fired. Now, in an attempt to raise awareness, and get some kind of justice, the reporter is suing News12 Long Island.
According to her report, she was constantly being placed second best to many of the male reporters on News12. This discrimination came in many forms, such as leaving her without a team, and no photographers, and even taking headlines away from her on stories she had pioneered.
This Reporter Isn't Going Down Without A Fight
This treatment has led the reporter to eventually lose her job and she is now suing for the unfairness. Her report shed more light on the alleged injustice, stating "High-profile assignments were consistently given to male reporters. For instance, despite Ms. Yonkunas' significant contributions to the Gilgo Beach investigation, [the story was] assigned ... to a male reporter, disregarding both her and her female colleague's input."
The frustration from this was already huge, so when Rachel Yonkunas spoke to the channel about the situation she was shocked by their response. Rather than addressing the issues, they placed her on a 30-day performance improvement plan.
Of course, she said she hit her quotas and goals, being more than qualified to do so. However, on her return, Rachel Yonkunas was given a very unfair proposition. She was told that she was being expected to take a $10,000 pay cut and slot on the morning show.
"I couldn't understand why they were putting me, a successful investigative reporter, in this position. I think they thought I would just accept it" she said. So, she took her time to answer, being under contract. She still came to work but didn't reply straight away.
However, the reason she will be suing them is due to the fact that after her delayed response, they fired her from being a reporter for the channel. This seemingly came from nowhere, and just highlights their continued disregard for her as a reporter.
Her lawsuit is an attempt to raise this disparity in the industry, and hopefully help others in the same position.
