Tom Sater was an award-winning meteorologist at Fox 5 in Washington, DC. After almost 7 years of service, management at WTTG-TV (the Fox O&O in Washington, DC) decided it was time for him to leave, even though he was very popular with the viewers, and had won 5 Emmys.  Management claimed "gross misconduct" and terminated Tom’s employment without notice or severance pay.  AFTRA investigated, and concluded that gross misconduct had not occurred, and demanded that the station pay Tom his notice pay and severance pay, under the terms of the AFTRA contract.

Although AFTRA and WTTG have a long history of being able to resolve their disputes, this case proved different. AFTRA filed for its first-ever arbitration with WTTG, and the two-day hearing was held in July 2006.  The arbitrator found that WTTG had not met its burden of proof, and that any performance issues involved were "ordinary" and did not rise to the level of gross misconduct.  As a result of the arbitrator’s ruling, AFTRA was able to recoup over $70,000 in notice and severance pay for Mr. Sater.

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