Ex-anchor sues WAVY, saying it ignored his back problems

NORFOLK

Former news anchor David Nelson has sued WAVY-TV 10, saying it repeatedly rebuffed his and his doctor’s requests for time off to take care of chronic back problems before firing him last November.

In the suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Nelson accused WAVY and its parent company, LIN Television Corp., of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act.

Nelson, the suit said, “began to develop a significant back problem in 2006.” After the sudden departure of WAVY anchor Les Smith in April 2007, the suit said, Nelson frequently worked 60- to 80-hour weeks, sometimes anchoring four daily newscasts on WAVY and its sister station, Fox 43.

That summer, the suit said, the station ignored “work restrictions from his doctor instructing that he not sit for longer than two hours at a time without at least a 15-minute break.”

In October, the suit said, news director Kathy Hostetter “told him that contrary to his most recent doctor’s note which mandated rest, she expected him to anchor the 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts back-to-back.”

That month, the suit said, Nelson was diagnosed with a herniated disc. In an e-mail to Hostetter in November, “he expanded upon his complaints of her ongoing refusal to accommodate his medical needs.”

Five days later, the suit said, Nelson was fired.

Doug Davis, the president and general manager of WAVY and Fox 43, declined to comment Tuesday.

Nelson, the suit said, joined Fox 43 in January 2003 as an anchor for its 10 p.m. newscast. “He was soon promoted to anchor WAVY’s 5 p.m. newscast,” it said.

Nelson received “very strong performance evaluations” and praise from Davis for his “strong numbers,” the suit said. Three months before Nelson’s firing, it said, Davis told him he was “an 'invaluable’ part of WAVY-TV and was 'critical’ to its success.”

During his time at WAVY and Fox, Nelson experienced a “significantly deteriorating back condition,” the suit said. He stands 6-foot-6. “The anchor desk is short and Nelson’s chair simply did not fit him,” the suit said.

Nelson and his agent, Alfred Geller of New York, asked the station to raise the level of the desk and provide a different chair, but those requests were ignored, the suit said. An e-mail from Geller to Davis and Hostetter in October 2007 said Nelson was in “unimaginable physical discomfort,” the suit said.

Nelson’s suit asked for an unspecified amount of money to compensate him for lost earnings and benefits, emotional distress, attorney’s fees, and punitive damages. It also asked the stations to put in place programs to “provide equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities.”

Nelson, the suit said, lives in Chesapeake. He did not respond to a message left at his home Tuesday.

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com