Fox Executive Darlene Tipton Fired Over Flight 370 Charity Email

[Gonad the Barbarian]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/19/fox-darlene-tipton-fired_n_5179556.html

A veteran Fox executive who used her company email account to plan aid for loved ones of the missing Malaysian airplane's passengers has been fired.

Darlene Tipton, who was vice president of standards and practices for the Fox Cable Networks Group, said Saturday she had wanted to arrange swift financial aid to families and other loved ones, sparing them lengthy court fights. She said she began by emailing Sarah Bajc, an American whose boyfriend, Philip Wood, was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and who has made frequent TV appearances since the plane's March 8 disappearance.

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said Tipton's "conduct and communications" violated company policy. Citing privacy concerns, he declined to discuss particulars, but he said, "As soon as we became aware, we took appropriate steps." He confirmed that Tipton has left the company.

Tipton was with Fox for a quarter-century before her April 9 dismissal. She said she plans to continue with her initiative, soliciting contributions through the crowdfunding website GoFundMe.

"We want to raise money for families, to give them immediate relief," Tipton said during a phone interview from her Los Angeles home. "Otherwise, they could be in court for years."

A condition of accepting the money she hopes to raise: Recipients must waive the right to seek legal remedy.

"If they're getting money through contributions," she said, "it isn't right for them to seek money through legal channels, too."

But she plans to sue Fox for wrongful termination, said her husband, Ken Tipton, a writer and producer.

He said the idea for the fundraising effort stemmed from his Los Angeles hospital stay last month, shortly after the plane disappeared. He said that while he was under medication he had hallucinations of being with the plane's passengers and the power of his visions spurred him and his wife to try to help.

"She wanted to do it because it could be done," he said. "So why not try?"

The investigation into what happened to Flight 370, a Boeing 777 that was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, continued Saturday with searches of a patch of the Indian Ocean seabed.

Tipton's firing was first reported by Christine Negroni in her blog Flying Lessons.

So encouraging people to give up their legal rights based on hallucinations is actually frowned upon by Fox. I'm not entirely surprised that Fox's own vice president of standards and practices was unaware of that.

 

[Murloc]

the thing about giving up your legal rights is really fishy.

 

[Exterous]

Not that I am a Fox supporter but we really only have one side of the story so far

 

[boomerang]

Further proof that FOX needs to be wiped from the face of the earth.

 

[mrjminer]

the thing about giving up your legal rights is really fishy.

Definitely. Should be interesting to watch this one unfold.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Imagine that, an executive that was fired for violating company policy. I'm sure she was not only required to read and heed company policies but enforce them as the VP of standards and practices.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Definitely. Should be interesting to watch this one unfold.

Without a court approved settlement type thing I don't believe that clause is worth the paper its written on. Think about it if this could be done easily every employer would have it written into their terms of employment

 

[mrjminer]

Without a court approved settlement type thing I don't believe that clause is worth the paper its written on. Think about it if this could be done easily every employer would have it written into their terms of employment

Yea, it could be entirely invalid. I have no clue. I think there are waivers of liability for various things. If it is valid, maybe employers are prohibited from doing it (conflict with workplace laws perhaps), or maybe there's a specific conditions that have to be met that make it more difficult for employers to have something similar.

 

[FaaR]

It's encouraging when people reach out to help other human beings in need of aid (especially when they're execs at a scummy corp like Fox), especially when done to their own detriment, but to condition relief is a practice I find...fishy, at best.

What if the voluntary relief does not equal the sum of the legal remedy payout (not unthinkable). Also, why should an airline be able to skirt their financial obligations to their victims because of voluntary relief efforts? That's as good an example of company welfare as you ever saw.

 

[DominionSeraph]

the thing about giving up your legal rights is really fishy.

No it's not. It's there to garner more contributions. If there's a remote possibility of them collecting million dollar paydays, fewer will want to give.
There's no sign of any malfeasance so any lawsuit is going to be a fishing expedition. If the community's got them covered, it's the height of rudeness for them to accept it and then go to the company fishing for more.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

It's sketchy as hell and I wouldn't give a cent to a charity that stipulated it. Charity is just that, charity, and when there's still potential legal culpability to asses this undermines the ability to do so. And corporations sure don't need any more help skirting their legal liabilities.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

It's sketchy as hell and I wouldn't give a cent to a charity that stipulated it. Charity is just that, charity, and when there's still potential legal culpability to asses this undermines the ability to do so. And corporations sure don't need any more help skirting their legal liabilities.

Charity is a scam, used by the rich and powerful to make you believe they are something they are not.

 

[brycejones]

Charity is a scam, used by the rich and powerful to make you believe they are something they are not.

meds, get some.

 

[michal1980]

most companies have anti-'charity' policies. They are put in place to prevent pressure to donate to someone's pet cause. The policy should be firmer for executives, it can create an atmosphere that you have to donate to your bosses cause to advance in the workplace. I'm sure fox news, as other companies do, have procedures in place to sponsor other worthy causes if the need arises.

anyone working for a larger business should check their handbook.

 

[Thebobo]

Further proof that FOX needs to be wiped from the face of the earth.

 

[werepossum]

It's sketchy as hell and I wouldn't give a cent to a charity that stipulated it. Charity is just that, charity, and when there's still potential legal culpability to asses this undermines the ability to do so. And corporations sure don't need any more help skirting their legal liabilities.

Well said.

meds, get some.

Or just, like, don't take them all at the same time, mixed with those purchased from the "undocumented pharmacist" down on the corner.

 

[Fern]

the thing about giving up your legal rights is really fishy.

Yeah.

I find it very very odd that someone wanting to raise money for a charitable cause would even think to link it with waiving legal rights. I see no connection between the two.

The charity seems like a good idea. But it seems to me it should be aimed at modest amounts for immediate support. Not aimed at compensating people for the loss of loved ones and their lifelong economic damages.

Odd, very odd. Kind of seems like some ulterior motive is lurking about.

Fern

 

[Sonikku]

Giving people money who have not worked for it might fly for the liberal lamestream media that delights in handouts, but it doesn't fly at Fox. Good riddance.

 

[Vic]

Giving people money who have not worked for it might fly for the liberal lamestream media that delights in handouts, but it doesn't fly at Fox. Good riddance.

Lol?

 

[Victorian Gray]

giving people money who have not worked for it might fly for the liberal lamestream media that delights in handouts, but it doesn't fly at fox. Good riddance.

roflmao!!!!!!

 

[trenchfoot]

So now I know what it takes to get fired from FOX. Thinking back from all of those years the likes of Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly et al prosthelytized the outright lies, outlandishly embellished unsubstantiated rumors, the crocodile tears, the propagandistic RNC talking points.....and now this firing to compare all of that with. LOL!