Posted on 01/28/2005 6:58:32 PM PST by Pikamax
Grieving CNN reporter 'put under relentless pressure'
c Friday January 28, 2005
A former CNN reporter alleging unfair dismissal today claimed she was given an "ultimatum" by bosses to return to her day job while she was still medically signed off work following the death of her fiance. Elena Cosentino, who worked for the US news broadcaster as a producer and reporter for six years, told an industrial tribunal she felt under "constant, constant pressure" to return to work despite suffering from clinical depression after her fiance's death in July 2002.
Ms Cosentino, who is seeking £190,000 in compensation, was made redundant by CNN in March 2004, almost two years after her fiance was killed. CNN is contesting the case.
Under cross-examination from Gavin Mansfield, representing CNN, Ms Cosentino said she had been visited by her immediate boss prior to Christmas 2002 and told that she either had to return to work before a January 15 date stipulated on her doctor's note or face the prospect of losing her job.
Earlier the court heard how Ms Cosentino had written to CNN's human resources department complaining that "four years" of working night shifts had left her feeling ill, comparing the effect of her shift patterns to "travelling to LA four times a week and never seeing the sun".
After being put under "relentless" pressure to return to producing a CNN magazine show, she claimed she was visited by her immediate boss, Jeff Nathenson, and told that she must come back before Christmas as the show had been commissioned.
"I was completely distraught at the time and he came and said if you don't come back before Christmas we will give your job permanently to someone else."
Mr Mansfield denied the claim, saying that Mr Nathenson had merely enquired as to "how you felt about coming back and helping out on the show".
"I accept he talked about arrangements for Design360 but suggest that he did so in terms not as firm as an ultimatum," said Mr Mansfield.
Earlier the court heard from Dr Alessandra Dei-Cas, a former flatmate of Ms Cosentino's, who told the three-man tribunal that the former CNN producer had almost lost the will to live after her fiance's death.
"She deteriorated pretty soon after Mark's death. At that time even if you weren't a doctor you could tell that there was something seriously wrong and that she needed help."
Dr Dei-Cas later described how Ms Cosentino sunk into a depression that left her "sitting on the couch for six months staring at the walls and doing nothing".
The tribunal heard that in her statement Dr Dei-Cas said she advised Ms Cosentino's against going back to work early.
"In theory going back to work was a good idea, but in practice she was very weak. You only had to look at her to see just how impossible it was to go from lying on a couch every day to making a programme."
The case continues next week.
I thought liberals were all for reigning in evil corporations and looking out for the little guy. You know, American's with Disabilities Act, Family Leave, and all that jazz. CNN should really just send her home and pay her ad infinitum till she is ready to come back on her own.
This is an insult and smack in the face to every policeman, truck driver, soldier, airline pilot, deliveryman, doctor, nurse, telecommunications worker, and everyone else who works nights. They get along just fine.
The owner of CNN sounds like a real Nazi...
Liberals deserve each other.
Actually, they don't all just get along fine. Night shift ALWAYS pays more ~ and there's a good reason for that.
Judy Woodruff continued on despite her clinical depression after Nov 2000 and Nov 2004, why can't this lady?
So, what's the problem? Isn't this how most MSM reporters do their research on a story? Does anyone imagine that Maureen Dowd leaves her office or jets down to DC to interview people before she writes another one of her columns?
I'll bet Ms. Cosentino was one of CNN's best people. That's why they let her go--she made all her colleagues look bad.
It was six months, from July to December. But she should have done it. Lying around at home is a good way to assure that the depression continues. Getting out of the house and doing something would have been good for her.
I thought he just dies, not I read its been two years, she needs to get a grip, we all lose people we love, we cannot resign from life, If she is that bad then she needs heavy counseling.
I worked several night shifts. They mess with your body and your brain. Human beings were not meant to be awake and working in the middle of the night.
Is Judy better????? I always thought she slipped a bit.
Really? Did he force her into an oven or a concentration camp?
Clinical depression is different in different individuals. Sometimes it manifests itself as little more than a cold attitude toward the suffering of others.
It was a play on words - because Ted Turner compared Fox News to the Nazis earlier in the week.
I'm not sure of that. However, they deal with it.
Thanks....but I was kidding!
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