T.J. Simers' lawsuit against the Los Angeles Times

Bitter, too .

 

He deserves every penny. This is a lesson to everybody over 50. Save all emails and documentation. Secretly tape meetings where the butt-kissing managers threaten you in order to get you to quit. It's worth trying to hit a 5 million or more dollar payday when they fire you. Age discrimination is rampant in newspapers. Make 'em pay people. DO NOT GO QUIETLY.

 

See, this is the thing, exactly. Simers is one of the few people who would actually have the public recognition, and the stones, to be inclined to ever go through a fight to sue a place at which they worked for years and gave so much blood, sweat and tears. Companies count on that, and usually, they take their chances and are right about people in thinking that they'd probably never do it.

Not so with Simers. Just as when he was a reporter, you don't mess with him. And that's coming from somebody who liked him.

 

Which one of you wrote this?

http://deadspin.com/t-j-simers-wins-7-1-million-judgement-against-the-los-1740676493

Love him or hate him, can you really call Simers a hack?

 

I'm happy for Simers. I've seen too many public hangings to think they were all deserved. As for the judgment, I'd bet the $7.1 million will be appealed down to six figures and reduced by the lawyers' 1/3 cut until it comes to about a year's pay for T.J. Still, a hooray from the old folks' home.

 

What's important to remember is that time began in about 2004, in the eyes of the author.

 

Let's be honest here: if you are a journalist making a lousy wage and you are pissed at TJ Simers because he won a discrimination lawsuit after making good money in his career, the problem is you. Jealousy and bitterness over someone else's success is pathetic. At some point, the onus is on you to get a better job.

 

Simers was not everyone's idea of a columnist, and that's why he was so good and why, given his undoubted talent, he stood out from the crowd....to call him a hack is ridiculous....

 

Periscoping Clay Travis agrees with you.

So does ol TV here, too.

 

I don't disagree with this, but I think it misses the point. I doubt most people are pissed because someone was awarded $7.1 mil after making good money at the end of a journalism career. No. It's because that guy was Simers, a guy who has a reputation as a douche, true or not. Meanwhile, plenty of other very talented journalists over 50, who likewise have been forced out, are trying to figure out how to survive until retirement.

 

I doubt very much if the $7.1 million verdict -- if ever paid -- will affect how many journalists are employed. That comes out of a different pot of money.

And, if they do need to trim costs as a result, seems like the LA Times has some managers and HR folks who would be first in line, based on the suit.

 

Ace, I wasn't insinuating that the money Simers was awarded will lead to more layoffs, though nothing would surprise me at this point. I was merely stating that so many in our business have lost work who could likewise claim age discrimination. That Simers is the one guy who could see money as a result is nauseating.