Opinion ID: 176780
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Termination of Employmentthe Allegations

Text: In an e-mail dated August 23, 2005, DiFolco requested a meeting with Kaplan, proposing a date the following week when she would travel to New Jersey for the meeting. The following allegations of the complaint pertain to the contents of that email and to the correspondence that followed: 38. While she expressed her hopes to have maintained a productive working relationship with the Company and be a part of [Kaplan's] team for a long time to come, Ms. DiFolco realized the Defendants Leon and Brownstein continued to cancel her shoots and force her off the air. As such, she indicated to Defendant Kaplan that they should discuss [her] exit from the shows. This was Ms. DiFolco's way of expressing to Kaplan her desire not to disrupt the shows on which she worked. 39. Defendant Kaplan agreed to meet with her as proposed to further discuss the matters raised in her email. 40. That same day, Ms. DiFolco informed Defendant Leon that she planned to meet with Defendant Kaplan on September 1, 2005. She also stated that she hoped to record the shows for early September out of New Jersey since she had to be in New York to cover Fashion Week, noting that it would save the Company time and money on airfare if she simply remained on the East coast for that entire time period. Defendant Leon agreed to this arrangement. 41. The next day, on August 24, 2005, Defendant Leon responded by abruptly informing her that they decided to change the direction of the fashion week coverage and planned to send the New York Times style editor to cover the shows instead of Ms. DiFolco. 42. Ms. DiFolco immediately contacted Defendant Kaplan, forwarding Defendant Leon's most recent example of his ongoing effort to force her off the air and asked to know why she was being taken off the scheduled shoots. She specifically inquired whether Defendant Kaplan had made Defendant Leon aware of her previous request for a meeting, fearing that Defendant Leon had canceled her participation in Fashion Week in retaliation for approaching his superior and that her email would be misinterpreted. 43. Ms. DiFolco clearly expressed that [she] did not resign yesterday and confirmed their agreed meeting scheduled for September 1, 2005. 44. Defendant Kaplan acknowledged that he made Defendant Leon aware of her previous email. His email stated, My complete impression is that you have resigned, and then continued, sooner is better since your obvious intent is to leave. 45. While Ms. DiFolco was in flight from California, Defendant Leon left her a voicemail message that her meeting with Kaplan was canceled. At the same time, Defendant MSNBC sent Ms. DiFolco a proposed separation and release agreement through her agent, claiming that she had resigned. DiFolco claims that the termination of her employment in the manner alleged constituted a material breach of her employment agreement, giving rise to her claim for the balance of the wages and other payments due to her and her corresponding claim brought under the New York Labor Law §§ 190-199-A.