Demetria Kalodimos was well-loved by Nashville Tennesseans. They watched her deliver the news for over 30 years. While she’s long been a well known figure in Nashville, now she’s making national news. Demetria claims that the station that she worked for, WSMV, terminated her employment after 33 years because of her age and gender. She also claims that speaking out when she saw her fellow employees discrimated against played a part in WSMV’s decision. She is now suing WSMV.

Demetria’s Accusations

Demetria gives examples of the discrimination she witnessed. Demetria told the Tennessean

“When problems are happening right under your own nose, if you will, you can’t ignore those. Especially when they’re hurting people — and people that you know and work with. I felt not only my responsibility as a journalist but as a friend and as a woman and as an employee to make people aware of problems. And there were persistent problems.”

Demetria sites several examples of what she felt was discrimination. These include women being penalized for taking time off work and coming back, while men were welcomed back with open arms and given the exact same position, pay, and benefits they had when they left. She also says that women were talked over or simply ignored in boardroom meetings.

WSMV countered by saying “Meredith and WSMV-TV strongly disagree with these allegations. We will vigorously defend ourselves against them.”

The Circumstances That Led to Her Termination

Demetria received a letter on her desk on January first, the day after her contract expired. After 33 years with WSMV, there was no face to face conversation, no meeting, simply a letter informing her that she was no longer employed there. The station says that Demetria didn’t respond to its offer of a contract extension, while Demetria counters that a reasonable offer was never made.

What is known for sure at this moment is that Demetria was replaced by a significantly younger anchor Tracy Cornet. Regardless of how the lawsuit turns out, Demetria has shed light on a problem and opened up a discussion.