Unsealed documents show KIRO fired Hutchison after she confronted boss
Published 4:48 pm Friday, August 7, 2009
SEATTLE — Documents unsealed today say King County executive candidate Susan Hutchison was fired from her longtime job as a KIRO-TV news anchor after she questioned the station’s general manager about why he was spending so much time with a female co-worker.
The documents also say Hutchison told the mother of a female intern that KIRO wasn’t a good environment for her daughter because of sexual misconduct, and that she called in sick after she was denied days off for a vacation to Oregon in July 2002.
Hutchison sued KIRO for discrimination after the station replaced her as nightly news anchor with a younger Asian woman. Hundreds of pages of documents in the case were filed under seal, and the lawsuit was settled out of court. A King County Superior Court judge today agreed with news organizations that argued the filings should be made public.
Hutchison insists she cannot comment on the case because of a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement, though KIRO says she is free to discuss everything but the terms of the settlement itself.
