Former CNN Reporter Accuses Network of Inflicting 'Psychological, Financial and Physical Stress' by 'Kicking Her Unfair Dismissal Legal Battle Into Long Grass'
She claims she was wrongly fired after being injured while on assignment 10 years ago.
And now RadarOnline.com can reveal former CNN journalist Saima Mohsin has accused the news network of causing her "unnecessary psychological, financial and physical stress" by "kicking" her unfair dismissal claims "into the long grass".
Mohsin, 47, said: "CNN is avoiding addressing my discrimination claims by arguing that UK courts should not even hear my case, kicking the matter into the long grass, causing a disabled journalist considerable and unnecessary psychological, financial and physical stress.
"I am disappointed CNN has chosen to take this route and appeal, dragging a disabled journalist, injured on assignment, through court rather than honoring their duty of care."
According to Mohsin, she was on assignment in Jerusalem in 2014 when her cameraman ran over her foot while covering the Israel-Palestine conflict. She suffered serious tissue damage during the incident and was left unable to work full-time.
Then, in 2017, the British Pakistani journalist claims CNN unfairly terminated her contract when she asked for alternative duties and support during her lengthy rehab.
Mohsin won the right to fight CNN before a UK employment tribunal in August 2023 – but the network appealed the ruling on territorial grounds.
The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network argued her employment contract meant the UK tribunal did not have jurisdiction over her unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims.
A hearing is now set for September 5 at London’s Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Mohsin told Deadline ahead of the hearing on Thursday: "As a journalist with a disability, I simply asked for reasonable adjustments to continue doing the job I loved and was very good at. Instead, CNN fired me and escorted me out of the building."
"Media companies have a duty to include journalists with disabilities and accommodate their needs. Every journalist working in the field right now should be concerned by this. Particularly at a time of so many global conflicts and increased risk for journalists."
Mohsin, who now works for Sky News, has previously expressed a willingness to settle with CNN outside of court. She said the network has declined to settle and has worsened her "pain and suffering" by forcing the matter to drag on.
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She said: "I have constantly offered reinstatement or mediation and negotiations. I didn’t ask for this battle while learning to deal with an invisible disability and rebuild my life. But it was important I take a stand."
As RadarOnline.com reported, Mohsin's battle against CNN is not the only legal trouble the embattled network has found itself embroiled in in recent months.
Host Jake Tapper, 55, is at the center of a bombshell defamation suit filed against CNN in which he and a top correspondent are accused of slandering a former U.S. Navy veteran turned private security consultant.
Zachary Young’s company Nemex Enterprises Inc. was the subject of a November 2021, episode of The Lead with Jake Tapper during which he and his security consulting firm were accused of running a "black market" amid President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Damages in that case could cost the struggling news network upwards of $1billion.
RadarOnline.com has reached out to CNN for comment.
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