A longtime weatherman from Alabama has filed a lawsuit against his former TV station, alleging he was compelled to resign after being given a new, “intensive” work schedule, only to discover that he was subject to a noncompete clause.
Josh Johnson, 43, resigned from his position as chief meteorologist at WSFA after he was unable to reconcile his professional and familial obligations.
However, a restrictive provision he had signed in 2023 prevented the seasoned meteorologist from working anyplace else in the industry, so he filed a lawsuit against his former employer.
According to the Daily Mail’s complaint, Johnson has been serving the station “on the front lines of every major Alabama weather emergency, including the historic tornado outbreaks of April 2011, multiple tropical systems, and other significant severe-weather events” since 2008.
After his job’s demands prevented him from taking care of his family, he decided to quit broadcast television completely due to “difficult circumstances beyond his control.”
The complaint further states, “Johnson’s aging parents are both in serious and progressively declining health.”
In order to take care of his parents, the weatherman would often travel more than two hours each way, giving his mother “care, support, and assistance” and responding to his father’s “deteriorating condition.”
The adoring family man “accepted these sacrifices without complaint, determined to meet his family responsibilities even at a great personal cost,” according to the complaint, despite the fact that time spent traveling and taking care of his parents also kept him away from his two young stepchildren.
Josh Johnson, 43, filed a lawsuit against his former TV station after signing a stringent non-compete agreement in 2023 that prevented him from working in the industry anywhere else.
After years of serving as WSFA’s lead meteorologist, the seasoned meteorologist resigned because he was unable to reconcile his professional and personal obligations.
Johnson was compelled to resign after his increasingly demanding work schedule prevented him from seeing his stepchildren and taking care of his aging parents, for whom he was commuting more than two hours each way.
But once his employer adopted a “new and significantly more time-intensive streaming strategy,” Johnson was unable to maintain the “delicate balance” between his personal and professional lives.
According to the complaint, “the increased workload materially increased Johnson’s professional demands and eliminated what little flexibility he had managed to preserve.”
“Johnson found himself unable to maintain a meaningful presence in his children’s daily lives or adequately fulfill his essential caregiving responsibilities to his parents.”
The senior weatherman was unable to locate another position nearer to his parents due to a stringent custody agreement governing his wife’s two small children.
The complaint went on, “The situation became unsustainable through no fault of his own.”
“Johnson made the extremely difficult decision to sever his relationship with WSFA and decline renewal of his employment contract upon its expiration because he had no practical options and was unwilling to compromise the wellbeing of his children or abandon his ailing parents.”
The weatherman’s departure was announced by the station on April 8, and his last day of employment was May 29.
The paper states, “This decision was not made lightly, but rather as a last resort, necessitated by an untenable convergence of professional demands and irrevocable family obligations.”
A “News Personnel Employment Agreement” dated March 2023 that forbade Johnson from engaging in “activities that are the same as or similar” for a rival company while he was employed there prevented him from finding other employment.
According to the complaint, the agreement’s language, which forbade the use of his name, appearance, or resemblance, was drafted in “extraordinarily broad terms.”
However, a “News Personnel Employment Agreement” dated March 2023 that forbade Johnson from “any activities that are the same as or similar to” his job within the station for a competitor during his employment there prevented Johnson from finding other employment.
According to the complaint, the agreement’s language was worded in “extraordinarily broad terms,” leaving the prohibitions embracing “activity-based” and “platform-based” content instead of employer or competitor-based.
It goes beyond just keeping Johnson from working for a rival TV station. According to the paper, it aims to ban Johnson from providing the same or comparable professional services, specifically weather forecasting and meteorological presentation, on any platform that viewers inside the [Designated Market Area (DMA)] could access.
Thirteen counties, including Autauga, Bullock, Butler, Crenshaw, Dallas, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Pike, Tallapoosa, and Wilcox, make up the DMA as specified by the agreement.
Because social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, and X are “globally available to viewers within the DMA,” such limitations would prevent the longtime meteorologist from working freely where his content would appear.
The agreement also forbids Johnson from utilizing his name, likeness, or picture on any “video delivery system without the express written consent of WSFA,” according to the petition.
The arrangement, according to the seasoned weatherman, is “invalid, unenforceable, not narrowly tailored, and unlawfully restrains his ability to engage in his lawful profession.”
Johnson just declared last week that he would not be retiring and that he had accepted a position with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of emergency preparation and recovery for the state’s possible natural disasters.
Johnson said that he had accepted a position with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, which oversees preparation and recovery for the state’s possible natural disasters.
He referred to publicizing extreme weather as a “calling” rather than a vocation on LinkedIn.
“The AEMA is an amazing team of men and women who put forth endless effort to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to all types of disasters.” As he left WSFA, he posted on Facebook, “I am excited to join them and serve you in this new capacity.”
In a different post on Tuesday, he said, “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as External Affairs at Alabama Emergency Management Agency.”
The Daily Mail contacted Gray Media/WSFA, Johnson, and his attorneys for comment.
