Oprah Faces More Alleged Discrimination Against Disabled

posted on Aug 17 by in the Disability Discrimination, Disability Law, Disability News, Employment, Multiple Sclerosis, Opinion and Discussion category

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Oprah is in the news for the second time this year facing more allegations of discrimination. A former employee filed a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit claiming the company fired her for having multiple sclerosis.

Catherine Dunn, 57, worked at the network in 2008 and says she was forced to take a leave of absence when her MS “symptoms were exacerbated because of the workplace stress.”  Dunn claims that she had to leave because the network was unwilling to help her work around the symptoms that are related to her disease. While she was on leave, Dunn says a “non-disabled and younger employee” filled her position. Dunn is asking for unspecified damages for losing her position.

In her tenure as an assistant at the OWN Network, Dunn took two leaves of absence due to her medical condition. It was during her second leave of absence that she was replaced by a new employee.

Dunn filed a total of 25 pages of complaints in the Los Angeles Superior Court against the talk show host and her company.

The spokesperson for the OWN network told E! News, “We have not seen the lawsuit. We are unaware of the claims. When and if we see something we will review appropriately.” Oprah’s television network OWN is set to launch on television in January of 2011.

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Oprah was in the news earlier this year with Zach Anner, a comedian with cerebral palsy who tried out for her tv show. Anner mysteriously lost 6.5 million votes on the voting area of Oprah’s website, and a few tech savvy users discovered that the voting button was different for Zach Anner than it was for the other contestants. AMS Vans also captured a screenshot of the voting differences on one of several blog posts we have about Zach Anner and the Oprah allegations in a previous blog post here: http://www.amsvans.com/blog/1483-zach-anner-loses-6-5-million-votes-on-oprah-contest/

It is unknown how either story will unfold, but we’ll keep you posted.

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5 Comments

bec small, posted this comment on Aug 17th, 2010

I am about the same age & also have MS. You need to know when to stop working. Oprah also needs to have some compassion & help accommodate her while the transition is happening. As for the vote fixing, I also saw that happening & Oprah is despicable to stop him. He was excellent & very entertaining.

Twitter Trackbacks for Oprah Faces More Alleged Discrimination Against Disabled | Wheelchair Accessibility Blog and Disability News [amsvans.com] on Topsy.com, posted this comment on Aug 17th, 2010

[...] Oprah Faces More Alleged Discrimination Against Disabled | Wheelchair Accessibility Blog and Disabil… amsvans.com/blog/1754-oprah-faces-more-alleged-discrimination-against-disabled/ – view page – cached Oprah is in the news for the second time this year facing more allegations of discrimination. A former employee filed a discrimination and wrongful Tweets about this link [...]

jeff howard, posted this comment on Sep 14th, 2010

Just another example of rich liberals determining who is politically correct to be in the spot light. Also a lack of understanding MS symptoms. We are still second class citizens, it isn”t gonna change, been battling attitudes for 25 years, its worse now than ever unfortunately.

We have to plot our own path outside of societies box.

Jeff

Ronnie, posted this comment on Sep 15th, 2010

In my position as Quality/Risk and/or Safety Director for various Medical Groups over the years I worked with many staff members with MS or other types of disabilities. The most important question that the staff member must face is what is best for their health, and when that is decided, we, as the employer must be there to make their environment the best it can be to help them be their most productive and satisfied with their work. There is much that can be done, and with not too much effort and stress on either party. However, both must cooperate. The staff member must be clear with their needs, for instance, if a staff member with MS is having trouble reading the computer, they need to be honest and tell their manager. The computer can then be set so that the letters can be enlarged on the screen and no one has to feel like the job is not being done. The manager is getting the work done that needs doing, and the staff member is reading without straining. The font can be increased as the staff member needs.

I know, there were days I would go to my CEO and let him know that I was really feeling my disability, even though sometimes my running around was in a wheelchair or on crutches. Many times I would be told that there were people that they thought of as disabled, but I was not one of them! I guess, it is all how you view the concept.

After all, believe it or not, no one is perfect, not even Oprah!!!!

shane, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2012

i think the zach thing may ahve happened because oprah wasunsure he would be able to adequately run his own show, i think everyone is a little hypersensitive at the moment especially when it comes to touchy subjects liek disability

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