Friday, June 29, 2012

Louisville | $300K exec claims age bias in dismissal

Mike Huot was vice president of circulation at The Courier-Journal from 1999 until last September, when he was told his job was being eliminated -- only to learn later the paper had brought in a younger employee to replace him, according to a suit he filed this week against the paper and Gannett.

Huot was 62 at the time and made more than $300,000 annually with bonuses and stock incentives, he says in a Jefferson Circuit Court complaint, according to a C-J story today. He's also one of the U.S. newspaper division's most-honored executives, having received at least 13 President's Rings.

More than age-discrimination cases typically filed by lower-level employees, this one is noteworthy because it involves a former high-level executive who would be privy to the sort of sensitive information Gannett would rather keep out of the public realm.

Instead, Huot's appeal to the courts shows he and the company failed to reach a severance agreement last fall that might have required him to agree to waiving all future legal claims.

If the case isn't dismissed early and proceeds to the discovery phase, it's possible both sides will unearth damaging documents, testimony and other evidence that could prove embarrassing for Huot and GCI if it winds up in the public case file.

Huot's departure came the same month GCI created Gannett Publishing Services, which reorganized companywide newspaper production and distribution into a single unit that Corporate forecasts will create multi-millions of dollars in cost savings and new revenue.

Although Huot left nearly a year ago, his photo remained on the C-J's "talk to our circulation team" page until today, when it disappeared after the 'Ville Voice pointed to it in a post that includes a screenshot of the original page.

Got complaint?
Unhelpfully, the C-J summarizes the allegations but doesn't post a copy online of the complaint itself -- a step I imagine it would take if this involved another high-profile Louisville employer.

With that in mind, I'm trying to locate a copy so I can post it here.

[Updated.] Here's a copy of Huot's lawsuit.

42 comments:

  1. Apparently it's SOP for the C-J to include the following line in lawsuit stories, including this one: "Claims made in filing a lawsuit present only one side of the case."

    Some of you will ding me for saying this, but: no fucking duh.

    Why stop with lawsuits? Why not include a disclaimer in stories about election campaigns that says: "Politicians often distort the records of their opponents."

    Or one in every business story that quotes a flack: "Publicists often fail to disclose information that's damaging to their clients."

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  2. Mike Huot good riddence, Louisville is a much better place without you. This has nothing to do with age, it was your crappy attitude.

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  3. Good idea there.

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  4. Sending hugs and kisses his way. Age discrimnation is no fun. I know.

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  5. 9:12 p.m. No doubt, you don't remember the days when BEHAVIORS counted more at work than ATTITUDE. That was back when folks were authentic and worked. some grumbled (a behavior), but performance evaluations were behaviorally based. We lived in a free society then though.

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  6. "Claims made in filing..." is standard for lawsuit stories -- for decades.

    The Huot story seems to have been only in the web edition -- couldn't find it in the print copy for Friday's edition. Anyone have a page/section number?

    Hiding the story?

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  7. Go for it, sir. Age discrimination is rampant.

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  8. The "claims made" sentence is used to remind readers that the stuff in the story is just one side's. It's used most often when the other side isn't commenting. Just an attempt to let the less legally inclined to know.

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  9. 13 president rings? Without knowing him but seeing the types that get those rings I'm sure he screwed over many a people to earn that many rings. So I guess he is better about being screwed after I'm sure screwing many of the people under him.

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  10. Go get 'em, Mike!

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  11. Pointroll is doing the same thing...FIRING PEOPLE AND REPLACING THEM WITH YOUNGER PEOPLE EVEN THOUGH THEY SAID THE JOB HAS BEEN ELIMINATED...FUCKERS!

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  13. Who replaced this old timer anyway?

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  14. I wish him good luck in his suit. So many of us had (will have) our careers prematurely ended. If he won 15 rings then he must of been pretty good at what he did. When I look back on the best bosses that I've had, there were times that each one had to play the role of heavy. There were times I had to play the role of heavy. That goes with making difficult decisions. So let's hope he gets justice.

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  15. The story is in the Saturday print edition.

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  17. I had the opportunity to work with Mike on several operational and budget reviews. You can't ask for a more knowledgable circulation executive. Best of luck Mike!

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  18. Nobody has replaced him. Trust me, Louisville circulation is a much better department now.

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  19. This will be a most interesting story to watch unfold. Huot was a Gannett Golden Boy back in the day...a visionary, well-respected and always at the forefront of every next big cic idea or initiative. He was rewarded with a hefty salary and ten...count them...ten President's Rings. Back then, the competition was tough and that ring really did mean something.
    Undoubtedly, should this ever see the light of day in a court-room, an interesting cast of players will be called on, among them, long- time publisher and another Gannett favored exec, Arnie Garson, who if I have my timing right, would have had to have been the one to take Huot to the woodshed and shoot, I mean fire him...or deliver he "Your position is being eliminated" news and carry out Gannett's dirty deed.

    The other lead character in this story would have to be Helen Hoffman, now a VP in circ at corporate who worked for Huot for years in Louisville. They were the circ dynamo team and were ALWAYS cited as the best of the best in circ.

    Fast forward to years past Hoffman's promotion to corporate and Huot gets the barrel shoved in his back. Who had a greater hand in pulling the trigger that killed his Gannett career? Dickey, Garson, Hoffman???

    And then for a little more spice to this juicy story, Mike's wife Elaine was the VP of marketing at the C-J at the same time. This plot will thicken.

    And since I can't stand Gannet for the company it has become and for the way it put thousands of its employees on a raft, pushed it off shore and then lit it on fire, I hope he takes them for a shitload settlement and laughs all the way to the bank.

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    1. The competition is/was tough for a President's Ring. Yea, its just like a Purple Heart. Puckering up to corporate is fraught with living on the edge for the greater good.

      They dont just hand 'em out to just anyone, damn it!

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  20. I pray the discovery happens, and it becomes pubic record. Maybe I can use it in my age discrimination lawsuit.

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  21. All the power to him. He has the money to fight this. It's been going on here and they don't care who sues. I'd love this to happen they deserve it and I know what goes on behind those corporate doors.

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  22. Mike knew he was on the way out for a while, and Helen Hoffman finished the job.

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  23. Helen Hoffman is not a dynamo. Condescending and rude to all. Right place at right time. Not a team player with corporate, subordinates or site staff. On her way out too. Might be time for her to treat co-workers with an ounce of respect. May need a reference. Won't see 2013.

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  24. So, Mike didn't take severance or any type of buyout? If he did, no disclosure form and release. Otherwise, is there any recourse?

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  26. Here's an edited version of 7:33's comment:

    No Circ director is worth $300,000. They didn't eliminate the position, they eliminated the salary. Gannett knows the P&L can't possibly reflect a position pulling down that kind of coin and they took action. That part you applaud. Between Mike and his wife who ran online, Louisville was down a half a million a year.

    CJ circulation was inflated with CPO starts of more than $100. No other paper in the chain enjoyed that kind of start pressure circulation marketing coin, and that (the budget) was also eliminated.

    Mike's case won't get to discovery, Gannett has far too many secrets to protect.

    As far as the comments on Helen listed earlier, they're all spot on.

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  27. My hunch:

    Corporate offered Huot a severance deal that included a requirement he go away quietly in return for a big check. Huot turned it down, perhaps because it was too low.

    Now, he's filed suit with the hope that he can make more in a settlement net of any legal bills -- or in a bench/jury award in the very unlikely event this case doesn't get settled or dismissed first.

    This will come down to a staring match to be settled by this: Who will blink first?

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  28. Gutsy people like Mike ARE making a difference ifor the ffuture generations. I did the same thing back in 2007 when I lost my Gannett job. Discrimination is ugly. You can too.

    Eliminated a salary? Now, can you imagine the uproar or if Gannett pushed out all the blacks by eliminating the salaries connected with their jobs? People 40 and older or in just as much a protected class as blacks.

    Go Mike.

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  29. Correction of my earlier post...13 President's Rings...I stated ten. He wa al all-star for years and was always very well respected. He was on more circ task force teams than I could count. He was a pet of Rob Althaus as well.

    As to Hoffman...arrogant, condescending, puffed up ego. She is smart and all, but her personality as the queen of corporate circulation rubs most everyone the wrong way. She has always been a "you're a small market, you don't even matter" kind of player, only ever focused on her friends in high places. When/if she ever goes, there will be cheering.

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  30. Leave Helen alone cowards. Sorry you can't deal with a strong woman.

    She has this thing called passion. Something in short supply with posters here.

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  32. There's a big difference between Mike Huot and Gannett Corp.:
    Mike has always dedicated himself to the people he associated with within the Newspaper industry, in spite of the limitations that Corporate put on him.
    Gannett could give a damn about the people: Employees, subscribers, vendors all who believe in the importance of a newspapers. All Gannett has cared about is paying dividends and their stock price!

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  33. 12:25, There is a difference between being "passionate" and "strong" and being self-important and just all-around unpleasant. In my experience, both Huot and Hoffman were/are the latter.

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  34. I've heard president's rings have gone the way of assigned parking spaces. Anybody else hear this or is it sour grapes from my director?

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  35. 7:11 I think that's true. In early June, Corporate announced the winners and finalists of the annual employee awards.

    This year, Arizona Republic Publisher John Zidich was named manager of the year.

    In previous years, this would have been followed by the President's Ring winners. But it's now July 2, so I'm guessing that program has been scrubbed. It would be interesting to know why.

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  36. Jim, there is money associated with winning a President's ring not to mention Corporate would have to acknowledge people as being valuable employees which would in turn make the winners expect raises, etc. The new Corporate is about beating people down and not building them up, silly.

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  37. Also interesting to note is that Mike was in the first class of the Gannett Leadership Academy, a program where SCJ picked a dozen or two executives across all disciplines to groom them for higher leadership posts at the group and corporate levels.

    Mike was also a go-to guy to help solve circ problems across the company, including in Detroit, which means he knows a lot of things that the company would prefer never see the light of day in a court filing.

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  38. It makes my stomach crawl and curdle when I think about how much local exec's are paid. My dept. hasn't seen any kind of pay raise for over 10 years, in fact, pay cuts are the norm. All these exec's seem to think there is an entitlement owed to them. Our exec's and middle management should get off their pedestals and pay homage to the workers that are providing great dividends for them and for Gannett.
    Age bias? That might be a hard one to prove. I'm old enough and willing to take a buyout, but have been switched to GPS. Something is amiss. Resentment is a cancer to the soul. Save me from being resentful. Amen!

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  39. 11:37 - If you no longer want to feel resentment, leave Gannett. It is amazing what that does for your soul.

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  40. I was let go from USA Today and replaced by someone 25 years younger. This is what Gannett and USAT do and have done for many years. It got worse during the recession, but it wasn't anything new to anyone who has observed how this company discriminates against any employee over 50 and making "too much money."

    Gannett is lower than low when it comes to ethics and morals. It's treatment of employees is cold and calculating, particularly during tight budgetary times. USA Today is no better than the smallest Gannett properties in how it targets anyone who is perceived to be weak, old or unpopular. This creates an atmosphere where one's job is no longer about writing, editing, selling ads, laying out pages ... it's about dancing and staying off the radar screen. It's about concealing good ideas or exposing bad ones because you don't want to be noticed in this company.

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  41. My experience is mixed on this one. Garnett hired me when I was 50 plus. That's a good thing. But, I had to work circles around the newbies to keep my job. Did that for a year before the complaining got me nowhere. Garnett DOES discriminate based on age. That, I know. It will take many more folks like Mike to end this practice.

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