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ST. LOUIS — A judge has ordered KMOV’s parent company to pay a former meteorologist and her lawyers more than $826,000 for discrimination and retaliation.

Meghan Danahey had argued in a lawsuit that her bosses at Channel 4 triggered anxiety and depression, while also hurting her job prospects. Judge Annette Llewellyn recently ruled in her favor.

“It has been a long and hard road for Meghan,� her lawyer, Jerry Dobson, said in an interview Monday. “It’s very gratifying to see she has been vindicated in a court of law.�

A lawyer for KMOV’s parent company, Meredith Corporation of Iowa, and the station’s news director did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Danahey, whose legal name is Meghan Hodge, worked at Channel 4 for about six years beginning in 2014. Initially, she covered weekday weather broadcasts.

In 2016, the station hired a new news director, Scott Diener. Court records show that in February 2018, Diener proposed a new schedule for the meteorologists: Danahey’s two male colleagues would work weekday shifts, while Danahey and her female counterpart worked weekends. Danahey would also be assigned to general reporting shifts on weekdays, which she had never done before.

Danahey contacted her union representative. She also kept a record of the times she felt Diener intimidated her, and she complained to human resources a handful of times. But she later learned the station’s human resources chief was close friends with Diener and was relaying her complaints directly to Diener, records say.

Diener and other colleagues talked about her in emails and conversations, saying they didn’t like “the way that they were spoken to� by Danahey, records show.

In January 2020, the schedule changes went into effect. Danahey and her female colleague covered seven broadcasts a month. Their male counterparts did 45, court records say.

The change was effectively a demotion, despite the fact there were no issues with Danahey’s performance or ratings, the judge’s order says.

As the COVID-19 pandemic began, KMOV bought the two male meteorologists equipment so they could broadcast from home. The two female meteorologists were still required to come into the studio.

Then, in September 2020, Danahey was fired. An arbitration hearing over a union grievance had been scheduled for December.

Station officials said her termination was part of a company-wide force reduction. But Llewellyn, the judge, ruled the evidence clearly showed Danahey’s superiors sought to get rid of her before arbitration.

“Miraculously, a reduction in force was necessary in September 2020, according to Defendant, which it used as an opportunity to rid itself of (Danahey’s) constant complaining and what management believed was her unacceptable way of speaking to them,� Llewellyn wrote in her ruling.

Danahey later got a job as a meteorologist in Asheville, North Carolina, which pays less than what she earned in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, court documents say.

She filed suit in 2021 against the parent company of KMOV and Diener. In April of this year, a jury ruled that Diener did not discriminate against Danahey. Diener

In July, Llewellyn heard the evidence against Channel 4’s parent company. She ruled in Danahey’s favor on Aug. 8.

Llewellyn awarded $326,800 in lost wages, plus $4,600 in additional costs for Danahey’s increased rent and security deposits in Asheville. She also awarded $425,000 in punitive damages, and $70,040 in attorney’s fees and costs.