Fired for Leaking Boss’ Memo, She Collects $523,000
A jury awarded $523,000 to a TV station employee who was fired after finding and showing to co-workers a torn-up memo her boss had written criticizing her.
The Hennepin County jury’s award Wednesday to Wendy Bradley, a 38-year-old one-time employee of the KSTP promotions department, included $11,000 for breach of promise and $500,000 in punitive damages.
KSTP attorney Charles Mays argued unsuccessfully that Bradley was fired in 1986 for breaching a promise of confidentiality. She had shown other employees a memo written by her boss, Virginia Hubbard.
The memo, to another manager, said that Bradley was not an asset to the department, that she had been involved in two legal disputes, that a case was being built against her and that she could be replaced by a secretary.
Bradley claimed that she found the memo in pieces on a table by a copying machine. Hubbard said she believed that Bradley had taken the pieces from a wastebasket in Hubbard’s office.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
