After Sinclair Shakeup, Tulsa News Anchors Allege Discrimination, Take Legal Action

Written By: Rosemary Avance

(TULSA, Okla.) Two former Tulsa television news anchors have filed an employment discrimination case against Sinclair Broadcast Group, the telecommunications conglomerate responsible for their recent layoffs.

Sunny Leigh and Mark Bradshaw, former television news anchors with Tulsa’s ABC affiliate, KTUL Channel 8, allege that their station’s parent company, Sinclair, terminated their employment due to their ages. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to employees aged 40 and older and makes it illegal to treat an employee less favorably because of their age.

Leigh and Bradshaw’s firings were part of sweeping layoffs at KTUL one month before Sinclair announced a restructuring of the station in December 2023.

“Sunny and I have retained an attorney and we’ve filed a formal age discrimination case against KTUL and Sinclair with the Oklahoma Attorney General,” Bradshaw wrote in a social media post. “We believe we were discriminated against on the basis of our age.”

Bradshaw, who was 66 at the time of his dismissal, was employed at KTUL for 27 years, while Leigh, 53, worked there for five years. Both say Sinclair recently renewed their contracts, and they believe officials knew at that time both anchors would be dismissed.

According to Leigh, all KTUL employees received an email in November from their general manager, Mike Lewis, notifying them of a mandatory all-staff meeting the following day. At that meeting, Sinclair officials announced that most of the Tulsa station’s operations would consolidate with a sister station in Oklahoma City and that many positions would be eliminated.

Leigh said she did not imagine that the cuts would be so widespread, but she and Bradshaw both received termination notices that day. Despite being terminated, Leigh says she and Bradshaw were asked to continue to anchor the news for another month. 

“People thought it was a big publicity stunt,” said Leigh, referring to conversations on social media in which viewers expressed confusion over how she could continue to anchor the news while knowing both she and Bradshaw would be leaving KTUL.

Leigh said, in accordance with policy, all terminated employees over the age of 40 received a list of the ages and positions of all terminated employees. While the list did not mention names, she says the combination of ages and positions made it easy to identify who had been terminated. 

Leigh identified the anchors on the list as herself, Bradshaw, and Tyler Butler, who was 33 at that time but whose intention to leave KTUL for a job in Tucson had been widely known at the station for many months. Another younger anchor, Brenna Rose, was retained.

Leigh said another reason she and Bradshaw are pursuing legal action stems from inequities in severance pay. She says she and Bradshaw received two weeks’ pay, while terminated production and floor crew received 24 weeks’ pay.

In December, Sinclair consolidated KTUL’s production operations with a sister station in Oklahoma City in a move it said was to better provide “hyperlocal” news and weather content. In a press release, Sinclair Broadcast Group stated that news broadcasts would continue to feature Tulsa-based reporters but that a "regional content center” in Oklahoma City would “super-serve the Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets." 

Bradshaw and Leigh’s case is not the first accusation of discrimination against Sinclair, a conglomerate that owns, operates, or provides services to 185 television stations across the country.

In 2023, Sinclair settled a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleged that Sinclair violated federal law when it fired a desk worker due to her health condition. Another lawsuit, filed in 2022, is still awaiting adjudication. In that case, the EEOC sued Sinclair over charges that the broadcast group engaged in racial discrimination by underpaying a Black employee and forcing her out of her job. 

Findings of discrimination can impact broadcast stations’ eligibility to renew their licenses. The FCC’s renewal policy states that stations, in addition to other requirements, must “serve the public interest.” Before renewing a license, the FCC must determine whether a licensee has committed “violations which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse.” It requires stations to report adverse findings by a court or administrative body involving discrimination and other violations.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has not yet responded to requests for comment.