WTNH’s former human resources director is suing the Nexstar-owned station in New Haven, Conn,. and its general manager, Rich Graziano.
Rachel Mastriano claims gender and age discrimination in the suit and alleges in the lawsuit that Graziano made “sexist comments regarding young females.”
According to The Courant, Mastriano says she received great reviews about her work until Graziano arrived in 2017.
In the suit, Mastriano says Graziano made repeated sexist comments. “On one occasion, he suggested that they should put one of our young female anchors on Facebook in a bikini. He made other sexist comments regarding young females including descriptions of their body parts. He was focused on the appearance of the young female anchors at WTNH and he regularly made personal comments about them,” the suit said.
Mastriano began working at WTNH in 2010. She was promoted to HR manager in 2015.
She claims Graziano was “rude and made demeaning remarks” to her upon his arrival and eventually fired her after she obtained Red Sox tickets through the advertising department, which she says was normal practice in the past. He claimed she violated the company’s business conduct policy.”
Graziano and Nexstar have not commented.