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03-27-2005, 07:48 AM
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Ex-EchoStar workers back allegations
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Ex-EchoStar workers back allegations
By Greg Griffin
Denver Post Staff Writer
Three former EchoStar Communications Corp. employees have filed affidavits supporting allegations of abusive behavior by chief executive Charlie Ergen against a former female executive.
One claims that Ergen once threw a "black marketing board" at Soraya Hesabi-Cartwright, former executive vice president of EchoStar's Dish Network satellite-TV service. Another supports Hesabi-Cartwright's description of a meeting of senior executives in which Ergen yelled and put his finger in Hesabi-Cartwright's face.
The affidavits are the latest salvos in a lawsuit that Hesabi-Cartwright filed against EchoStar in January, claiming Ergen repeatedly singled her out for "violent yelling fits." She left the company in January 2004, forfeiting about $4 million in stock options. She is seeking the $4 million and punitive damages.
EchoStar has filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the claims aren't specific enough to prove that hostility occurred. EchoStar says that, to the contrary, Hesabi-Cartwright was rewarded by the company with promotions and pay raises. She made $13.5 million in salary and benefits in 2003.
The company says the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Colorado Civil Rights Division each declined to pursue claims against EchoStar on behalf of Hesabi-Cartwright.
An EchoStar spokesman declined Thursday to comment specifically on the affidavits.
Sharon Baker, Hesabi-Cartwright's executive assistant at EchoStar, said on March 17 in a sworn affidavit in U.S. District Court in Denver that Ergen threw a "black marketing board" at Hesabi-Cartwright one night in her office.
In another case, Baker said, Ergen pounded his fist on a table and a wall while he was "screaming and yelling" at Hesabi-Cartwright in her office. He then "picked up a gray conference chair," which he put down before stomping out of the office.
Patricia Jacobs, a program manager, substantiated Hesabi-Cartwright's description of a December 2003 meeting of senior managers in which Ergen allegedly yelled and put his finger in the executive vice president's face.
"Ms. Cartwright appeared to be extremely humiliated and embarrassed by Mr. Ergen's conduct in front of everybody," Jacobs said.
"I personally believed that Ms. Cartwright feared that Mr. Ergen was going to physically strike her."
Another ex-employee, Marty Langenderfer, former vice president of customer retention and quality assurance, said in an affidavit that Ergen "made the work environment for Ms. Cartwright intolerable through a relentless degradation of her contributions and skills."
Hesabi-Cartwright also filed an affidavit. In it, she said that it appeared to her that the reason for Ergen's "increasingly hostile conduct" toward her was that she had a baby in 2001.
After she became a mother, she said, Ergen no longer treated her as "one of the boys."
"There were times when Mr. Ergen's conduct was physically threatening to me," she said. "His rages were extreme, and his behavior was often out of control.
"It was to the point that it became intolerable."
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Ex-EchoStar workers back allegations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-EchoStar workers back allegations
By Greg Griffin
Denver Post Staff Writer
Three former EchoStar Communications Corp. employees have filed affidavits supporting allegations of abusive behavior by chief executive Charlie Ergen against a former female executive.
One claims that Ergen once threw a "black marketing board" at Soraya Hesabi-Cartwright, former executive vice president of EchoStar's Dish Network satellite-TV service. Another supports Hesabi-Cartwright's description of a meeting of senior executives in which Ergen yelled and put his finger in Hesabi-Cartwright's face.
The affidavits are the latest salvos in a lawsuit that Hesabi-Cartwright filed against EchoStar in January, claiming Ergen repeatedly singled her out for "violent yelling fits." She left the company in January 2004, forfeiting about $4 million in stock options. She is seeking the $4 million and punitive damages.
EchoStar has filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the claims aren't specific enough to prove that hostility occurred. EchoStar says that, to the contrary, Hesabi-Cartwright was rewarded by the company with promotions and pay raises. She made $13.5 million in salary and benefits in 2003.
The company says the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Colorado Civil Rights Division each declined to pursue claims against EchoStar on behalf of Hesabi-Cartwright.
An EchoStar spokesman declined Thursday to comment specifically on the affidavits.
Sharon Baker, Hesabi-Cartwright's executive assistant at EchoStar, said on March 17 in a sworn affidavit in U.S. District Court in Denver that Ergen threw a "black marketing board" at Hesabi-Cartwright one night in her office.
In another case, Baker said, Ergen pounded his fist on a table and a wall while he was "screaming and yelling" at Hesabi-Cartwright in her office. He then "picked up a gray conference chair," which he put down before stomping out of the office.
Patricia Jacobs, a program manager, substantiated Hesabi-Cartwright's description of a December 2003 meeting of senior managers in which Ergen allegedly yelled and put his finger in the executive vice president's face.
"Ms. Cartwright appeared to be extremely humiliated and embarrassed by Mr. Ergen's conduct in front of everybody," Jacobs said.
"I personally believed that Ms. Cartwright feared that Mr. Ergen was going to physically strike her."
Another ex-employee, Marty Langenderfer, former vice president of customer retention and quality assurance, said in an affidavit that Ergen "made the work environment for Ms. Cartwright intolerable through a relentless degradation of her contributions and skills."
Hesabi-Cartwright also filed an affidavit. In it, she said that it appeared to her that the reason for Ergen's "increasingly hostile conduct" toward her was that she had a baby in 2001.
After she became a mother, she said, Ergen no longer treated her as "one of the boys."
"There were times when Mr. Ergen's conduct was physically threatening to me," she said. "His rages were extreme, and his behavior was often out of control.
"It was to the point that it became intolerable."
__________________