Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503080024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Charles Perez show will be telecast at 3 p.m. Monday on WGN, cable channel 5 in Roanoke.
Mary McEnheimer said she was fired by Trigon on Dec. 15, several weeks after the show was taped in New York. She said the show's sponsors flew the six employees to New York after one of them called and suggested the topic.
Of the six people on the show, McEnheimer said, two were fired after the taping and four still work for the federal claims department of Trigon. Two of the latter defended the company on the air.
McEnheimer said she was fired because she was four minutes late to work one morning. She said she would have been on time except for elevator problems at the office.
The company accused her of repeated lateness, McEnheimer said, but she won unemployment benefits after several co-workers testified to her punctuality.
She said the incidents cited on the show involve allegations that employee personnel matters were not confidential as expected. McEnheimer said confidential information was leaked by and to other employees. When there were complaints about the matter, she said, ``we were being watched all the time.''
Trigon was not mentioned on the show as the employer, she said, because the company forbade it.
Joseph M. Macrum, senior vice president for corporate communications at Trigon, said the company's point of view is that employees have a right to express their personal views on matters of public interest. He said that is the right of every citizen.
But when personal opinions are aired in a public forum, Macrum said, the company asks that employees speak as private citizens and not as representatives of Trigon. He said that policy was made clear to the people involved.
None of the other five employees could be reached Friday night.
by CNB