Former KSTP-TV meteorologist Wren Clair filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the St. Paul-based television station this week, saying she was abruptly terminated after she reported the conduct.
Her lawsuit said she was demoted in 2024 and terminated in February, “but the sex-based disparate treatment and sexual harassment occurred throughout the entirety of her employment,” which began in 2018.
KSTP, in a legal response filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court, said Clair was terminated “as a result of her poor performance, on which she was repeatedly coached.” The response also said she was not “subjected to sex-based harassment.”
Clair is now a meteorologist for KARE-TV, serving in the role since May.
Paul Schinner, attorney for Clair, who filed the lawsuit Tuesday under her legal name of Renee Fox, said the work environment at KSTP was “the kind that you would hope no longer exists in 2025 and unfortunately it is still alive and well.”
“We feel that a fact that a woman is on television is not an excuse to subject her to offensive sexual comments and sexist double standards,” he said.
Mike Garber, KSTP’s news director who was hired after Fox’s departure, said Wednesday that the station “does not comment on personnel matters or active litigation.”
News director comments
Fox, who grew up in Hopkins and went to the University of Minnesota, was a morning show meteorologist in Boston, a top-10 market in the U.S. at the time. Her husband obtained a promotion that required a move back to Minneapolis and she was hired as a KSTP meteorologist.
From 2021 until her employment ended, Kirk Varner, who was KSTP news director at the time, “regularly made offensive sex-based comments about (Fox’s) body and appearance … voiced his preference for tighter fitting outfits, complained when she wore ‘pants’ instead of a dress … and complained about her decision to switch from blonde to her natural hair color,” the lawsuit said.
KSTP said in its legal response that in the context of discussion of Fox’s on-camera appearance, which is “standard for on-air talent,” Varner “emphasized the importance of clothing fit, informed (Fox) that wearing certain pants, such as joggers, on-air was unprofessional, and addressed (Fox’s) abrupt hair color change from blonde to brunette by referencing the appearance clause in her employment agreement.”
Fox’s lawsuit said Varner was also “more harshly critical” of her, “assigned her less favorable hours and assignments; and gave her less and lower quality promotional support than her male peers, whose blatant misconduct and glaring performance deficiencies he ignored and/or tolerated,” the suit continued.
KSTP denied those allegations in its response. In a meeting, Varner said Fox “could not be trusted with severe weather coverage and ended the meeting after (she) began deflecting and blaming others for her poor performance,” the station said in its response.
The lawsuit is only against KSTP and not against individuals.
“Given that status, I cannot comment on the matter further at this time,” Varner said in an email Wednesday.
Reported Dave Dahl comments
After chief meteorologist Dave Dahl retired in 2020, Fox took over as the prime-time weekday evening meteorologist for “5 Eyewitness News.”
Before Dahl retired, “on multiple occasions, he commented on (Fox’s) appearance, telling her how ‘great’ and ‘slim’ she looked,” Fox’s lawsuit said. She “reported and opposed” Dahl’s comments to Varner.
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“Varner excused Dahl’s conduct in a way that expressly referenced gender,” the suit said. “Only after (Fox) personally confronted Dahl on her own did he at least start refraining from aiming his sexist conduct directly at (Fox).”
KSTP said in its legal response that she reported to human resources that she confronted Dahl about her concerns and he “apologized and agreed to work on it.”
As Dahl was deciding when to retire, he told Fox he knew “how (she) wanted to have a baby” and could “cover her maternity leave,” but Fox had not said anything about having a child to anyone at KSTP, the suit said. “These kinds of sex-based presumptions were commonplace at KSTP.”
Dahl did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
Male peers
Before Fox got Dahl’s prime-time spot, Varner “repeatedly and vocally doubted that ‘the public can accept a lead female in a scientist role,’ despite the fact that another local station has had a female lead meteorologist for years,” Fox’s lawsuit said.
Fox has degrees in chemistry and meteorology, a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and is a co-author on multiple scientific publications, her lawsuit pointed out.
KSTP’s legal response said Varner “repeatedly coached (Fox) to use less scientific and highly technical jargon in her weather reports, and to instead use basic language that could be readily understood by viewers.”
Fox’s lawsuit said: “Once it became official that (Fox) would be replacing Dahl as the weekday evening meteorologist in 2021, (Fox’s) male peers treated her with blatant disrespect.”
The lawsuit also said that KSTP male meteorologists’ “refusal to work constructively with (Fox) directly impacted the quality of severe weather broadcasts and even the accuracy of weather forecasts,” a claim that KSTP denied.
Violation of state law alleged
In early to mid-2024, Fox “began to oppose the inappropriate sexist conduct of Varner and certain male co-workers more frequently and formally, via complaints to HR,” the lawsuit said. “Varner’s response was swift and nakedly retaliatory.”
KSTP said in its response that Fox complained to HR about communications with Varner on one occasion.
Her lawsuit said she was demoted from the prime-time evening show to a “dayside” schedule. KSTP said the reassignment was not a demotion and that her compensation was not changed.
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When Fox was terminated, she had more than two years left on her contract; KSTP said it had the right to terminate her employment before her contract ended.
She had no formal disciplinary action, but “received repeated performance coaching and warnings up to the date of her termination,” KSTP said in its legal response.
Fox’s lawsuit claims coworker and supervisor sexual harassment in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act and reprisal under the act. She is seeking back pay, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees.
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