{"id":5625,"date":"2014-11-10T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T18:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=5625"},"modified":"2014-11-10T17:31:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T23:31:01","slug":"chicago-anchor-sues-telemundo-over-2013-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/11\/10\/chicago-anchor-sues-telemundo-over-2013-firing\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago anchor sues Telemundo over firing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Edna<\/a>

<\/a> Edna Schmidt<\/p><\/div>\n

Edna Schmidt, who was a top news anchor at two Spanish-language stations in Chicago, is suing one of them for firing her when she appeared drunk on the air.<\/p>\n

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week claims Telemundo Station Group\u2019s WSNS-Channel 44<\/a> and parent company NBC Universal violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide Schmidt \u201creasonable accommodation\u201d for her alcoholism.<\/p>\n

After two months on the job, Schmidt was suspended as co-anchor of \u201cNoticiero Telemundo Chicago\u201d<\/em> when she showed up intoxicated on the 10 p.m. newscast September 30, 2013. Within weeks, her suspension turned into termination from her $200,000-a-year position. Management at the time said only that Schmidt was no longer with the station, adding: \u201cWe wish her the best in her future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking unspecified damages for wrongful termination, Schmidt\u2019s lawsuit alleges that her bosses made no attempt to get her treatment.<\/p>\n

Chris McDonnell, president and general manager of Telemundo Chicago, declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.<\/p>\n

Schmidt\u2019s legal action last week coincided with the airing of a five-part November sweeps series on her struggles with alcoholism on Univision WGBO-Channel 66.<\/a> Schmidt was a top news anchor for \u201cNoticias Univision Chicago\u201d<\/em> from 1995 until she was promoted to Univision Network News correspondent and anchor in 2000.<\/p>\n

\"The series is to raise awareness about the subject of alcoholism,\" Teri Arvesu, news director of Univision Chicago, said in a statement. \"It's an opportunity to empower women who are going through this and motivate their rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edna Schmidt, who was a top news anchor at two Spanish-language stations in Chicago, is suing one of them for firing her when she appeared drunk on the air. A lawsuit filed in federal court last week claims Telemundo Station Group\u2019s WSNS-Channel 44 and parent company NBC Universal violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5625"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5630,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5625\/revisions\/5630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}