Bias lawsuits strike magazine industry - discrimination cases increase - Update

Inc.'s June cover story, "How to Succeed Without a Job," could have been written for its former employees - at least two of whom have age discrimination suits against the magazine and its parent, the Goldhirsh Group, in U. S. District Court in New York.

And Hearst Magazines may want to pass out copies to its former employees - at least five of whom have recently filed sex or age discrimination suits against the New York-based company in Manhattan Federal Court, each seeking in excess of $1 million in damages.

These discrimination cases are part of a growing trend of lawsuits in the magazine industry. They are also linked in some ways. In each, it is New York sole practitioner Jeffrey Bernbach, a 25-year labor litigation lawyer, representing the plaintiffs against their former employers. In another twist, both Hearst and Goldhirsh have hired the New York law firm, Proskauer, Rose, Mendelsohn & Goetz.

Former Town & Country art director Melissa Tardiff is represented by Bernbach in a $1 million sex-discrimination suit claiming that former T&C editor Ron Javers fired several female staffers and replaced them with males. Bernbach also represents former Victoria/Countryside account exec Susan Ullrich, who was let go after taking an adoption leave.

Bernbach's latest case was expected to be filed by mid-July on behalf of several former Harper's Bazaar editorial staffers, all over age 40, who were dismissed last April just before editor Liz Tilberis took over. Of the 11 fired, about half have settled, Bernbach says, while the rest were deciding whether to join suit.

Also on Bembach's docket for trial this fall is an age-discrimination suit against Goldhirsh and Inc., filed by a former Inc. sales manager, 47-year-old Joyce Chorbajian. Chorbajian's former boss, Henry Thunhorst, who fired her over an allegedly falsified expense report, is now also suing Goldhirsh for age discrimination, although he is not represented by Bernbach. Bernbach says Thunhorst, fired as Inc.'s national sales director in March 1990, will testify at Chorbajian's trial that he was told to fire her because of her age.

Bernbach sees a boom in sex-discrimination suits following law professor Anita Hill's charges last fall of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

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