Former News12 anchor claims company wasted, bullied her after pay raise request
Former News 12 anchor Annalisa Klébers filed a complaint with the American Arbitration Association, claiming the company retaliated against her after she asked for a raise.
In the complaint, Klebers, who anchored the morning news for Altice USA-owned stations in Connecticut and New Jersey, said his allegations of mistreatment came after he asked for a new contract with better pay.
“What management did to me changed my life forever. I almost lost my life. My children almost lost their mother,” she told the Post. “I felt like my whole world was falling apart.”
Klebers started working there in April 2018.
According to the New York Postbefore the mistreatment, her superiors praised her intelligence and work ethic and called her “the sun of the newsroom.”
“There were days when I worked from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. trying to finish all the extra work that was thrown at me. I was trying to keep management happy and keep my job while my contract and raise were hanging over my head,” Kleber told Dailymail.com.
“There were disparaging comments, managers criticizing me and criticizing things about my performance that just didn’t make sense,” she said. “They also ignored or dismissed my positive contributions to the shows. It felt like management wanted me to stop or react badly to everything they did to me.
When she resigned, she said Altice refused to accept her resignation, saying it was necessary to investigate her complaint.
“The whole thing sent me into a spiral,” she said. “It was too much.”
“On Friday, May 13, 2022, I became very ill,” Klebers said. “I had a psychotic break. I was suicidal. All this happened in front of my husband, my children and even my sister.
She spent six days in the psychiatric ward on suicide watch and was later fired from Altice while on disability.
“Her career has been completely derailed, to the point where she sees no possibility of returning to an anchor position, not at News12 or in any media outlet, or in any newsroom,” said her lawyer, Anthony Mango. “This was provoked by her doing so in good faith, raising the issue of equal pay. “It really made her disabled.”
Klebers wants the American Arbitration Association to give her the income she would have earned as an anchor.
An Altice USA spokesperson told the Post: “News 12 is proud to provide an inclusive and equitable workplace where employees can thrive and are compensated based on their skills, contributions and performance.” merit; any allegations of gender discrimination are completely unfounded and we will vigorously defend ourselves against them.
