Robinson v. The Detroit News, Inc.

211 F.Supp.2d 101 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P worked at the CBS-owned station, WJZ-TV in Baltimore as an account executive from November 1998 to May 2000. Her responsibilities consisted primarily of marketing and new business development. In March 2000, P discussed the availability of an account-executive position at D with Joel Vilmenay, the local sales manager. Sales executives at D are responsible for both generating advertising sales to new customers and negotiating advertising sales called 'transactional accounts.' P did not have significant experience with 'transactional' business, but both Dianne Downey, D's Vice President of Sales, and Joel Vilmenay, P's direct supervisor, acknowledge that they assured her that when D hired P, she would receive the appropriate training. They did not provide training specifics, but P accepted the position under the assumption that D would provide some form of training to help her conduct transactional business. D employed P as an 'at-will' employee. There was no written or oral agreement. P began receiving informal training in transactional business during her first month of employment. Mr. Vilmenay gave P a list of glossary terms and math exercises and gave her some on-the-job training. After six months, D fired P, stating that she had performance problems, from her inability to grasp mathematical concepts and her failure to generate new business. P sued D and D removed the case to federal court. D filed a motion to dismiss.