After Winning an Emmy, Anchor Karla Amezola Prepares for Wrongful Termination Suit Battle
/Karla Amezola recently won her 1st Emmy award for the special series, “Atrapados en la frontera.” The series is about the plight of Haitian refugees trapped in Tijuana on their way to seek asylum in the United States. The refugees left their own country after the 2010 earthquake to work in Brazil for the Olympics and World Cup. Later they made their way through Mexico towards the United States where they planned to seek asylum. Amezola was up against 5 other nominees from Univision, KTLA and NBC.
Amezola sees the Emmy as an excellent reminder of how much she loves journalism. And it couldn’t have come at a better time because she is having a very difficult moment in her career. While an anchor at LBI Media’s Estrella TV, Amezola filed a sexual harassment complaint with Human Resources in 2016 against her boss at the time, Andres Angulo, VP of News. This led to her filing a lawsuit alleging that the company did nothing to curb the illegal behavior. Only months after filing the lawsuit, she was fired.
Amezola has been driving for Uber and Lyft since June to make a living, although she has also been actively applying for jobs in her chosen field. Se hopes that her lawsuit against Angulo and Estrella TV can move forward. There have been a number of delays that her legal counsel suggests are company stalling tactics. Amezola’s attorney feels that the company probably hopes the delays will result in the public forgetting about the allegations and that the plaintiff’s resolve will falter.
The original complaint was for sexual harassment, but it has since been refilled to add wrongful termination and seeks $15 million in damages.
If you feel you have experienced wrongful termination, please get in touch with the experienced California employment law attorneys at Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik.