Jeff Vaughn, a former news anchor in Los Angeles, has filed a lawsuit against CBS and its parent company, Paramount, alleging that the company’s hiring policies are discriminatory.
The lawsuit claims that CBS has been implementing policies that prioritize the hiring of individuals based on race and gender, which Vaughn argues is illegal. He alleges that these policies led to his replacement in 2022 by a younger, minority anchor, which he believes is a violation of anti-discrimination laws. Specifically, he points to a CBS goal to ensure that half of all writers be nonwhite by 2023 and an initiative requiring half of all cast members on their reality shows be minorities. “CBS decided that there were too many white males at CBS, and it acted accordingly,” the complaint states. “It needed to solve its ‘white problem’ by firing successful white males.”
The case has garnered attention due to its implications for employment practices and diversity initiatives within major corporations. Vaughn is seeking at least $5 million in damages and is represented by a legal group known for challenging corporate diversity and inclusion policies. The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant repercussions for how companies approach diversity in their hiring processes.
The complaint seeks a court order blocking CBS’s allegedly discriminatory hiring policies and for the company to offer Vaughn, who seeks at least $5 million, his job back.
Vaugn’s lawsuit is not the first of its kind at the network. Brian Beneker, a script coordinator for SEAL Team, alleges that he was repeatedly denied a staff writer job after the implementation of an “illegal policy of race and sex balancing” that promoted the hiring of “less qualified applicants who were members of more preferred groups,” namely those who identify as minorities, LGBTQ or women.
Vaughn alleges that the new hiring policy, which aimed to achieve what the network called “balancing,” went into overdrive when Wendy McMahon, who’s named in the complaint, was promoted in 2021 to president of CBS News and Stations. Under her leadership, the lawsuit says the company “prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, hired and promoted several women and/or people of color to serve in key roles.”
In the lawsuit, the former anchor states that when CBS held auditions for his replacement the candidates were all “younger, racial minorities.” In 2023, Vaughn was terminated, with a Black male assuming his position, according to the lawsuit.
Both Beneker and Vaughn are represented by America First Legal Foundation, a conservative group founded by Stephen Miller, a White House policy adviser under the Trump administration. The organization has been filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against major companies, including Morgan Stanley, Starbucks and McDonald’s, over corporate diversity and hiring practices that allegedly run afoul of civil rights laws.
CBS and Paramount didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
