TJ Simers gets $14.5M from LA Times

Worked for me. When I went back to Newspaper A after three years at Newspaper B, I had apparently become 30 percent more valuable during those three years. Probably not a great 2019 play, but it worked like a charm 20 years ago.

 

There is a special place in hell for HR people, especially those who invented performance reviews. But there needs to be a really, really special place in hell for the HR fuckwads who brought performance reviews to newspapers.

 

Blame "efficiency consultants."

 

Heard from a mutual friend I have with Simers that he’s thrilled by what his win will do for older folks getting pushed out of the industry. I’m not sure it’s that simple but I hope.

 

We need lawsuits to become commonplace. Cmon lawyers, step up and take the cases of journalists. It's blatant!! They have fired so many peeps because they are veterans and making too much money. Sick and sad. Please people SUE!!

 

This is just true. Case closed. These "reviews" are a fricking joke. You know, reporters are not stupid. They are inquisitive and smart and it's really truly a huge insult when some middle level suit reads you your "review." My suggestion is take the review, don't read it, just sign it in front of the mid level suit. If he/she asks you if you even read it, say no. It won't change anything if you balk at it. If you actually read the review you will desperately want to leave the company immediately. Better to not read it unless you are planning a lawsuit. If so by all means read it.

p.s. If you are a suit or mid level suit I'd like to hear one of you truthfully say you think these reviews are humane. I would like to ask you suits and mid level suits if you realize these performance "reviews" immediately cause unrest and make any employee with a brain want OUT. And I'd like you to explain what it's like to lie on these reviews.

 

Disgraceful. Sickening. It's why journalists are ranked last on rankings of worst jobs you can have. The disrespect in this industry is sickening.

 

Sorta. The people who sat around writing one 80-inch C+ takeout once every two weeks got raises.

 

If some of you recall, I was never a Simers fan from personal experience and not liking his work - I used to count the number of times he used "I" in his columns. I usually only read them where some pro-Simers poster would write about what a genius he was because of a column.

That said, I am very, very happy about this. Age discrimination is a problem which deserves much more attention. Maybe something like $4-million might seem more reasonable and could take care of Simers and his family quite well. That's not what the size of this award is about. It is punishment against the Times and a message to corporations. I think some people don't understand how difficult undertaking a lawsuit can be. Maybe in this instance, Simers's ego and self-focus was a good thing.

Thanks, TJ.

 

Amen. I think journalists as a group are more reluctant to sue. This is an inspiration, what happened with Simers. It would be nice if some smart lawyers sought out these type of cases, because I personally think reporters who have been fired because of age discrimination (and there are tons of them) are very very smart people. They think the big corporation will eat them alive in a courtroom and they think of how very expensive it'll be to sue and lose (probably most of retirement nestegg). In other words, reporters are a perfect group for management to boss around. Yes most sports writers will work 60 and get paid for 40 for years, which is illegal. Yes most sports writers will take the measly severance and leave quietly when fired in obvious age discrimination cases.
Please people, consider suing when you get fired. There are articles that say you should NOT go quietly into the night.

 

So if I got big raises, that made me a kiss-ass? Hardly.

 

When I was the SE of a paper in the old New York Times regional chain, I was told to mark everything as a 3 on evaluations. It was a scale of 1-5. So what was the point of even doing them?