April 11, 2005

Kim Osorio Hits The Source With Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Looks like serious trouble for dumb and dumber. Respect to Kim Osorio and Michelle Joyce for stepping up.

The Source Magazine Hit With Employment Discrimination Claims By Former Top Women
Former Editor-in-Chief and Vice President Accuse Owners of The Source of Subjecting Women to Gender Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and Retaliation
EEOC Charges Filed on Behalf of All Current and Former Female Employees
NEW YORK � April 11, 2005 � Earlier today, two of the highest-ranking former female executives of The Source magazine, the self-proclaimed �Bible of Hip Hop,� filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing co-owners David Mays, the Chief Executive Officer, and Raymond �Benzino� Scott, the Chief Brand Executive, of committing gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and unlawful retaliation against women at the Company.
The charges were filed by Kimberly Osorio, who was the first female Editor-in-Chief of The Source, and Michelle Joyce, who was the Vice President of Marketing. According to the charges, female employees were consistently discriminated against on the basis of their gender in favor of male employees, particularly with respect to hiring, promotions, compensation and benefits, working hours and discipline.
The charges also allege that:

Raymond �Benzino� Scott has taken virtually complete control over The Source from David Mays, and has placed many of his male associates from Boston on the payroll who performed no meaningful work and/or did not adhere to the same rules, policies and procedures that all female employees were required to follow.
Scott and Mays have fired or forced out of the Company without cause many competent, dedicated, and hardworking female employees and replaced them with men.
David Mays yelled and cursed at female executives at The Source, whereas he would not treat or talk to comparable male employees in such a manner.
Scott and Mays allowed another male employee to openly utter profanities at Ms. Osorio, degrade her, and threaten her with physical violence without being punished for his actions.
Women at The Source were repeatedly subjected to degrading acts of sexual harassment.
The sexual harassment was so severe and pervasive that the former Managing Editor at The Source would often hide in her office and avoid walking through the corridors out of fear of being sexually harassed.
The Source engaged in a gender-based smear campaign against Hot 97 radio personality and recording artist Angie Martinez.

�After dedicating five years to the Source, I could no longer endure the blatant gender discrimination and harassment so I spoke up. But it only hurt the situation, because I was fired shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace is very common. And now, I must speak out for all women who have been victims of this same type of treatment,� said Ms. Osorio. �I chose to take a stand for women of the Hip Hop generation and for all women who quietly endure such treatment for fear of retaliation and for those women who have suffered in silence and quietly surrendered,� said Ms. Joyce.
�Ms. Osorio and Ms. Joyce have shown extraordinary courage in coming forward, and we will fully vindicate their rights at trial, said Kenneth P. Thompson, their attorney and a former Federal Prosecutor who prosecuted the Abner Louima federal civil rights case.
�All women should be treated fairly and with the utmost respect whether they are in the world of Hip Hop or not and we will prove that in this case,� said Thompson.
According to the charges, both Ms. Osorio and Ms. Joyce complained about the discriminatory treatment against women at The Source, all to no avail. Instead of taking prompt action to end the discrimination, they allege that Messrs. Scott and Mays unlawfully terminated them despite their outstanding work performance. In fact, Ms. Osorio alleges that she was fired shortly after she refused to give in to Scott�s and Mays� repeated demands that she rescind an email that she sent to Human Resources complaining about the unlawful conduct.

Posted by jsmooth995 at April 11, 2005 12:20 AM | TrackBack

Comments

there's always a story behind the story behind the story. Something doesn't seem right about this. Or maybe I'm just too cynical.

Posted by: Hashim at April 11, 2005 1:11 AM

let me also say I am very glad to see Kim O take a stand. I hope justice is served

Posted by: Hashim at April 11, 2005 1:12 AM

Now ... This makes sense of why Benzino is running for the hills, I suspect to hear about a settlement plea on this one.

Posted by: Belve at April 11, 2005 6:03 AM

Legally, you shouldn't even be allowed to sue for gender discrimination at a company where all of the top employees are female.

Posted by: Bol at April 11, 2005 9:46 AM

Bol, your comment makes absolutely no sense. Legally, you shouldn't be able to post a comment if you haven't the mental werewithal to understand the substance of the article. That certainly hasn't stopped you.

Posted by: Edie at April 11, 2005 11:49 AM

"Legally, you shouldn't even be allowed to sue for gender discrimination at a company where all of the top employees are female."

really though Bol, that's just sum random accusations ta say that they were "stopping women from climbing the promotion ladder" when the top of the ladder was already all Women. the f*ck they tryngta do then??? just take revenge for being fired?

really though I just wanna se the Source get back ta biz without too many more hindrances now that they've gotten rid of Benzino. let them live now... tha bum is gone, let The Source get back ta living.

Posted by: Cavebaby Jesus at April 11, 2005 11:57 AM

The real question is will the magazine come back to prominence now that that the real problems are gone? I stopped reading the magazine more than 5 years ago, and I tried very hard to not support its advertisers (and spresd the word to my fam and friends, very effective)as well. I really hope that Graves Publishing can rebuild the rag based on the principles of Hop Hop, and not cutout corporate structure.

Posted by: blackfist at April 11, 2005 12:20 PM

"Legally, you shouldn't even be allowed to sue for gender discrimination at a company where all of the top employees are female."

Yes, because top-level female execs *never* get harrassed. Say...want some grape koolaid? I got this really great recipe from Jim Jones.

Posted by: EncyclopediaBrown at April 11, 2005 1:11 PM

source will never go back to what it once was. dave mays stands part of the problem as long as he is associated with Benzino.

..kinda ironic don't you think? eminem's song on black females could turn out to be far less damaging than what the source does to black women on a daily basis.

Posted by: kent at April 11, 2005 3:35 PM

They should just let someone like Kelis run the show - she's a woman - but man does she have ballz.

Posted by: yalejock at April 12, 2005 3:44 PM

i haven't bought a source in a while, mainly cuz the first 20-30 pages were always ads. there were more ads than substance most of the time. Yet, i would hate to see one of the few literal outlets of hip hop go.

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