Class-Action Status Granted in Sex Bias Suit Against CBS

CBS Corp. lost a round in a sex discrimination suit when a federal judge Monday approved class-action status for female technicians at five CBS television stations.

The number of women joining the class could exceed 150, according to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The original suit was filed on behalf of four plaintiffs.

U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank in Minneapolis ruled that female technicians employed at CBS-owned-and-operated television stations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Green Bay, Wis., since 1993 could join the class of plaintiffs suing CBS.

CBS faces another sex bias suit in a New York federal court filed in February by a female technician. The suit seeks $50 million in damages.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Lieder said the female technicians in the Minneapolis case are seeking damages of at least $10 million.

“In our experience, women experience the greatest discrimination in the workplace when they are trying to get into formerly male-dominated jobs,” Lieder said. “It is especially egregious when the employer is in the public eye as much as CBS.”

Michael Silver, a spokesman for CBS, said company officials are studying the judge’s decision.

The lawsuit, filed in 1996, charges that CBS has made a practice of denying female technicians promotion, training and overtime opportunities afforded male technicians.