Common Sense? Not at Tegna (Patreon)

I often say that I'm a rules guy, but common sense will always trump the rules.

Let's look at this one case with a Tegna employee, in which I think they threw common sense out the window.

Shay Morrison was an MMJ at WCNC, the Tegna station in Charlotte. She worked at the station for just over two years, when her mother passed away.

Losing a parent sucks, but what this even worse, is the fact that Morrison was now tasked with helping raise her sister.

I could go on, but let's let Morrison tell the story, which she posted on social media.

"I told my job I needed to leave & take care of my newly orphaned sister. They told me I owed them thousands.

Two years ago, I left my dream job in Charlotte, NC, to be closer to my mom. She passed away two days later. A month after that, I was back on-air in a new journalism role (they're not listed on my resume or LinkedIn), trying to hold everything together while raising my little sister.

When my sister came to stay with me, she needed more than I could give while working full-time on-air. More love. More supervision. More time.

I did everything right. I exhausted my PTO. I even went unpaid for months. But in the end, I couldn’t make it work. When I told them I needed to leave, they hit me with legal threats and contract clauses, saying I owed them thousands, and they would pursue it.

I wasn’t trying to walk away; I just couldn't make the same mistake twice. Family had to come first.

It forced me to think and reflect that the journalism industry had already started crumbling under me. Then and now. Layoffs, burnout, noncompetes. I had to ask myself: Is what I’m giving worth what I’m getting back?

It wasn’t. So I shifted.

In these two years, I’ve been quiet on here. I’ve been focused on my people. I poured into my sister the way I wish I could have for my mom. I reconnected with family, explored new skills, traveled, started helping others. I got better.

In a few weeks, I’ll finally own my name again—contractually and spiritually.

And I'll be writing a new story. Its focus is on where I’m headed.

If you’re in media, you might recognize the parts of this story we don’t talk about publicly enough.

If you’re curious, I wrote it all down → [https://lnkd.in/eE-3CmxR]

Because maybe you’re sitting on a decision too. And maybe this helps you make it."

It seems that Tegna was more interested in the rules and did not use common sense.

I was working at a station in Tulsa when my own mother died. I was given 4 days off to fly from Tulsa to New York, attend to my mom's affairs and turn around and head straight back to Tulsa to work my shift at the station.

While, I felt I should have gotten more time, I was able to do it in the time frame that the station held me to. But, I also did not have sibling that needed taken care of. I did not have to become a parent over night.

Morrison needed to help her family and Tegna could have said, we're so sorry, we understand and at least let her walk away. Instead they enforced her contract.

Like I said, I'm a rules person, but in this case, common sense should have won this battle.

Tegna should have done better.