TV reporter April Zepeda, fired from KOMO-TV in May after working there for 11 years, has filed a discrimination suit against her former employer, Fisher Communications.

The suit alleges that she was discriminated against because of her age and ethnicity. Zepeda, most recently head of KOMO-TV's North Sound bureau, is 40 and Hispanic. The civil suit also claims the station retaliated against Zepeda for volunteering to be a union shop steward and that it violated an employment contract she signed in February 2006.

On April 20, 2007, according to the complaint filed Oct. 29 in King County Superior Court, Zepeda met with news director Holly Gaunt, who directed her to wear more makeup and to wear clothing that would emphasize her small stature. Zepeda incorporated those suggestions as well as others asking her to be more "physically active on camera."

"She followed every directive that KOMO's new management had given her and yet they fired her," said Lori Haskell, Zepeda's attorney.

KOMO-TV vice president and general manager Jim Clayton said the station can't comment on personnel matters.

— Florangela Davila