They want to know what’s in the papers.
The five veteran NY1 anchorwomen, who sued the network last year claiming age and gender bias, want to see Pat Kiernan’s contract so they can learn how much he makes, new court papers show.
In their bombshell June 2019 lawsuit, Roma Torre, Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee and Amanda Farinacci claimed they were sidelined for younger women and even the local news network’s older male talent like the “In the Papers with Pat Kiernan” host.
Lawyers for Charter Communications, Inc. — the parent company of NY1 — said in a Dec. 3 call about information exchange in the case, the women’s lawyer demanded that Charter turn over “Mr. Kiernan’s employment contract the next day,” according to court papers filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday.
Charter says it can’t turn over the “highly confidential and sensitive” document without a confidentiality agreement in place first.
The company says Kiernan’s contract, “contains competitive information about a well-known New York City public figure who is not a party to this case,” according to court papers.
Kiernan is not a defendant in the suit.
But Torre, 61, in particular made claims that Kiernan, 50, was treated like a golden boy at the network, including that he was given a state-of-the-art studio and thrown a huge, 20th anniversary bash.
Meanwhile, Torre — who’d been with the network for 25 years — was told to “stop complaining” when she noted her much less favorable treatment.
Plaintiff lawyer David Gottlieb told The Post that Kiernan’s contract is just one of many types of documents that they are seeking from the network.
Gottlieb said they believe that “Roma Torre is significantly underpaid relative to her comparable male peer — which is Pat Kiernan.
“They’ve both been at NY1 for more than 25 years, they are both weekday anchors and our understanding and allegation is that Pat Kiernan is paid substantially more than her.”
“That is why we have sought the contract and they are going to have to produce it but they have withheld producing it so far,” Gottlieb said.
Two more NY1 reporters, Thalia Perez and Michelle Greenstein, came forward with a similar lawsuit in July claiming they faced age and maternity discrimination.
