Two Sides Of The Randi Kirshbaum Saga
• On Monday, RAMP stood in the center of a two-sided story emanating out of Saga’s Portland Radio Group in Portland, ME. The story initially went very public when Randi Kirshbaum, a four-decade mainstay of Portland Radio Group, who served in the multiple roles of Program Director of AC WMGX (Coast 93.1) and Triple A WCLZ, afternoon talent on WCLZ and middays on Country WPOR, took to email and social media to report that she had been terminated for medical reasons.
Kirshbaum’s staff email and companion Facebook post, read, in part, “After 38 years of exemplary service, Saga Communications has terminated my employment. The reason they gave is that I cannot effectively do my manager’s job without being in the office, although I have been successfully working remotely for the past six weeks. Due to a serious medical condition that would make contracting COVID-19 very dangerous, if not fatal for me, my doctor has recommended that I continue to work from home in order to avoid exposure. I am not willing to ignore my doctor’s guidance and put my health in jeopardy.”
Kirshbaum added, “Saga gave me an ultimatum, saying that if I did not show up to the office today, I would no longer be employed. I love my job, but I’m not willing to die for it.” Kirshbaum’s story quickly went viral, and was also picked up by the hometown Portland Press Herald.
• In an effort to properly (and fairly) spotlight both sides of this story, RAMP immediately contacted Saga for comment. Shortly thereafter, we were copied on an email from Saga SVP of Operations Chris Forgy, which was sent to the staff of Portland Radio Group. The message read, “Saga recently received a copy of an email from Randi that was sent to the staff at the Portland Radio Group. I am sending this email because we wanted to set the record straight about what actually happened in Randi’s situation. Today, when Randi did not report to work as requested, we gave her notice that she was being placed on layoff. WE DID NOT TERMINATE HER FOR HEALTH REASONS. In fact, we didn’t terminate her at all. When we started to allow people to work remotely it was our intent to have Randi work on site due to the nature of her supervisory position.”
Forgy’s email continues, “After discussion with her we reached an agreement allowing her to work remotely but with assessments every two weeks to determine whether such arrangement was successful. We both agreed that it would be Saga’s decision as to when Randi would report back to work. If we could not reach an agreement on this issue she would have to return to work at the stations. We started discussing her return to work several weeks ago and even extended the agreement allowing her to work remotely until today when employees at the Portland Radio Group would be beginning to come back to work. We instructed Randi to return to work today and she refused. As a result, we placed her on layoff and continued to pay for her health care benefits. Randi’s current status is laid off. Again, she has NOT been terminated. I hope this helps clear up any confusion that may have existed.”
Randi Kirshbaum can now be contacted at randi@kirshbaum.com.
