Times Leader, April 15

Ex-Times Leader editor files discrimination suit

By John Davidson
Times Leader Staff Writer

A former editor of the Times Leader who says she earned more than $200,000 in 2003 has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper in U.S. District Court, claiming she was discriminated against and eventually fired because of her gender and religion.

Allison W. Walzer of Shavertown was editor of the paper from 1986 to 2005. In court papers filed April 7, Walzer claims Times Leader President and Publisher Patrick McHugh fired her in January 2005 because she is a woman and because she is Jewish.

Walzer, 52, is seeking more than $150,000 in damages on each of three counts: gender discrimination, religious discrimination and violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

According to the lawsuit, which makes repeated references to Walzer’s Jewish faith, she was the second female editor at the paper and the first Jewish editor. Walzer was 32 when she was named to the post.

The lawsuit also states Walzer’s performance at the paper “resulted in generous salary advancements and bonuses,” and lists her income at $234,622 for 2003, and $142,244 for 2004 with a $50,000 bonus awarded in January 2005.

Although the suit states Walzer was sent to management courses “in recognition of her potential for advancement” and was rated well as an editor and manager, it also claims she was “subjected to differential treatment on the basis of gender and religion.”

In January 2005, the Times Leader simply reported in a business brief that Walzer left the paper’s employ. The story did not address whether she left voluntarily.

Walzer, who also declined to comment April 14, says in the suit she was fired on a pretext, namely that a staff photographer took personal pictures of her children. She claims the photographer, Clark Van Orden, is a personal friend and that the photo paper for the pictures cost less than $5.

McHugh declined to comment except to say, “It would be silly for me to comment on an ongoing matter of litigation.”

The 12-page lawsuit outlines several other incidents Walzer alleges were discriminatory. Toward the end of her time at the paper Walzer was forced to fire Jon Blum, an attorney who was a friend of hers and also Jewish, according to the suit.

Other discriminatory incidents the suit alleges include Walzer being excluded from a meeting to develop a five-year strategic plan for the newspaper and a denial of her request to be promoted in title from senior vice president to executive vice president. Both incidents happened in the last year of her employment at the paper, the suit says.

Walzer’s replacement, Matt Golas -- who the suit twice refers to as “a Catholic male, like McHugh” -- was given the title executive vice president when he was hired. When McHugh announced the new editor, the suit alleges, he said Golas “shared his values.”

Walzer also claims the paper never interviewed her for several stories about a lawsuit she and her husband filed against Luzerne County Controller Steve Flood when he backed out of a deal to purchase the couple’s home in 2003. Walzer says the paper should have asked her for her side of the story.

An attorney for Walzer, Neil J. Hamburg of Hamburg and Golden, P.C. in Philadelphia, declined to comment.

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