As Hallmark enters its second week of 2024 holiday programming—yep, Christmas begins in mid-October for the network—executives at the company are facing an age discrimination lawsuit from a former employee.
As first reported by Variety, Penny Perry, a 79-year-old casting director who departed Hallmark in April after nearly a decade, has accused Hallmark executive vice president of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly, senior vice president of programming and development Randy Pope, and vice president of human resources Paul Hodgkinson of wrongful termination, as well as age and disability discrimination in a suit filed on October 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
According to the complaint, Perry claims that Daly said, “We need to bring in someone…who knows more young talent,” and “Our leading ladies are aging out.” The suit name-checks network stars Lacey Chabert and Holly Robinson Peete, who are 42 and 60, respectively. “Lacey’s getting older and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older,” Daly allegedly said. Of Peete, she allegedly said, “No one wants her because she’s too expensive and getting too old. She can’t play leading roles anymore.”
Hallmark fiercely denied the claims, telling Vanity Fair in a statement, “Lacey and Holly have a home at Hallmark. We do not generally comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media.” Vanity Fair has reached out to the network for additional comment.
Peete’s last work with Hallmark was in 2022’s mystery The Journey Ahead and the Kwanzaa-themed film Holiday Heritage. Chabert, who has already appeared in one original movie for the network this year, is also starring in December’s The Christmas Quest and hosts a reality show, Celebrations With Lacey Chabert, on Hallmark’s streaming service. Back in 2022, Peete praised the network for hiring women of a certain age. “Now I’m pushing 60 and I’m still number one on the call sheet with nice chocolate brown boys that are my love interest,” she told Vanity Fair. “Like, I’m not aunty status.”
Perry is seeking injunctive relief, “economic damages for loss of past and future earnings,” and additional damages from Hallmark after alleging that Hamilton Daly told her she was “too old to work in her position and maneuvered to push her out of the company.” The casting director, who says in the suit that she suffers from multiple sclerosis and is legally blind in one eye, also claimed that she received a strong annual performance evaluation two months before her ouster and subsequent replacement by a younger man.
Daly, who was hired as Hallmark’s executive VP of programming in September 2021 after previous stints at Netflix and A+E Networks, told VF by email in 2022, “In the grand scheme of things, we are a small shop and our talent is our most valuable commodity, so we take a lot of care to make them feel valued and welcome; we want them to feel seen and heard, and we invite their creative input.”
