Pregnancy Discrimination, Breach Of Contract Suit Against Beasley/Las Vegas Moved To Federal Court

Defendant

A suit against BEASLEY BROADCASTING OF NEVADA, LLC and parents BEASLEY MEDIA GROUP, INC. and BEASLEY BROADCASTING GROUP, INC. by former LAS VEGAS cluster New Business Development/Event Manager COURTNEY KNIGHT for wrongful dismissal due to her pregnancy has been moved from NEVADA state court to federal court. In her suit, KNIGHT alleges that BEASLEY violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act and breached her contract by firing her.

KNIGHT was hired as a promotions coordinator for Country KCYE (102.7 THE COYOTE) in 2006, upped to Marketing and Promotions Dir. later that year, and named New Business Development/Event Manager in 2012; she signed a contract, which allowed for termination for any cause at any time with severance of 4 months' base salary or the remainder due under her contract, whichever was less.  She announced her pregnancy informally at the end of 2013 and formally in JANUARY 2014, and alleges that she became aware of "derogatory and hurtful comments" about her pregnancy by co-workers and was asked about additional children she might be planning and other details. 

KNIGHT gave birth on JULY 20th, 2014, returned to work on SEPTEMBER 29th, and was promptly demoted to Event Sales Manager, and was fired on OCTOBER 15th, with GM TOM HUMM telling her it was not due to job performance. She says she was asked to sign a release that would have required her to give up anti-discrimination protections under the law and was thus not paid her severance, and was held to a six-month noncompete nonetheless, with which she complied to avoid being sued.

BEASLEY's answer generally either denies or claims insufficient information to admit or deny KNIGHT's claims, although it does admit that it refused to pay KNIGHT her severance unless she signed the release.

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