LATINOS CLAIM JOB BIAS AT KCBS

A newly formed coalition of Latino organizations plans to file a complaint against KCBS-TV with the federal government’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commission based on what the group claims is a systematic pattern of job discrimination against Latinos at Channel 2.

“Because the numbers (of Latinos employed at the station) are so disproportionately low, it creates a prima facie case of discrimination,” charged John E. Huerta, legal counsel for the Hispanic Media Coalition, an umbrella group uniting 35-member Latino community, legal and entertainment-related organizations, at a Tuesday press conference in Los Angeles.

At the core of the coalition’s complaint is a claim that the CBS-owned station pink-slipped its Latino and other minority workers in disproportionately higher numbers than whites during recent layoffs at the station.

Huerta said that of the 22 employees the station laid off as of March this year, half were minorities and 36% were Latinos. The recent layoffs, he argued, has resulted in a drop from 16% Latino employment at the station in 1980 to a current level of 14%. Both figures, Huerta argued, establish a pattern of discrimination against Latinos.

Stations officials said they were “surprised” by the complaint. They said the station has the highest level of minority and Latino employment among the seven top TV stations in the Los Angeles market.

“We support the Hispanic Media Coalition’s efforts toward more (Latino) representation at Los Angeles television stations,” Tom Van Amburg, vice president and station general manager, said in a prepared statement. “We are surprised, however, that the group chose to target a station which not only has the best (Latino) employment record in the market, but has also been responsible, in the past several years, in helping improve this situation nationally.”

Van Amburg added that, according to 1986 employment records filed with the Federal Communications Commission, KCBS exceeds FCC standards for both overall Latino employment and management-level positions.

Total Latino employment at the station was reported in March at 56 persons, 14% of the station’s total work force and more than two full percentage points higher than the minimum recommended by the FCC. The station said it also exceeds the FCC’s guideline for Latinos in management positions--a category that includes station managers, professional technicians and sales workers.

But Huerta said that the coalition is basing its complaint on more stringent EEOC guidelines rather than the FCC’s.

He said EEOC regulations can require an employer to set affirmative-action guidelines to increase minority employment or to pay monetary damages if a pattern of deliberate discrimination against any individual or group can be proven.

Andi Sporkin, a KCBS spokeswoman, denied that Latinos or any other minority were laid off in greater numbers than other employees. “The layoffs affected all ranges of job categories in the building. In no way were minorities targeted.”

Huerta said the group had initially approached the station in August because of the possibility of new anchor positions opening at the time. KCBS was about to launch its ill-fated “news wheel” format--a fragmented series of 20-minute broadcasts dedicated to breaking news and health and life-style features. The stations abandoned the format in October.

Huerta said the talks with company officials, which started on a good note, soon broke down when Van Amburg replaced Frank Gardner, the station’s former general manager who resigned in October when the news format was dropped.

“Van Amburg has brought a lot of this on himself” for failing to demonstrate his willingness to seriously listen to the coalition’s concerns, Huerta said.

Sporkin disputed Huerta’s claim, saying that Van Amburg demonstrated his good faith by meeting with coalition members several weeks ago.

And Van Amburg said that KCBS has a well established record as a champion of Latino and minority advancement in the television industry. “Several years ago, KCBS-TV recognized the need to better identify and advance qualified Hispanic journalists and broadcasters,” he said.