The problems began soon after she was appointed Europe regional editor, after eight years of outstanding performance and appraisals, court documents allege. The suit alleges that Time’s foreign editor appointed Matt McAllester, a younger male colleague, as her deputy, without an open selection process and in violation of promises that she could choose her team. Mayer says McAllester began a campaign to undermine and supplant her, even though she repeatedly raised complaints.
Ultimately, Mayer claims, the company took away her responsibilities as Europe editor the year after she took on the position, then forced her to relinquish the title, which the company gave to McAllester. In April 2015 she was fired.
The suit, filed on 24 July, said: “Time has violated [anti-discrimination and civil rights] laws by operating a system of male cronyism, by which men, especially former war correspondents, were favoured over women in recruitment, dismissal and promotion decisions.”
That’s rather how the upper echelons in any large company work. It’s not particularly male either.