Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network is on the receiving end of a sex discrimination suit by a former exec. According to E! News, the complaint was filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court by Carolyn Hommel. Hommel stated that she was hired by the network in July 2010 as a senior director of scheduling and acquisitions. She said that she had been receiving positive performance reviews and was on track to becoming VP, but became pregnant in 2011 and had to go on medical leave for a pregnancy related condition. According to Hommel, her boss Michael Garner told her that he was bringing in a temporary employee to help out in the department while she was recuperating. Hommel says that many of her duties and responsibilities were taken away from her and given to the temp directly due to her pregnancy. The court docs also said that she was excluded from several meetings when she came back to work and co-workers refused to share information and emails about projects. When she gave birth to a baby girl in February 28, 2012, she was on maternity leave for a month when she found out that she was being laid off due to restructuring. Carolyn said that sh was told she could apply for a new VP position being created, but her 2012 review was not as great as the previous year's -- because it contained, "referenced conversations that never happened" and "factual inaccuracies" that consequently disqualified her for the position. The temp who covered for her ended up getting the VP job. Hommel is suing for unspecified damages for sex discrimination, disability discrimination, retaliation and willful failure to pay wages upon discharge or termination among other allegations.
