One in all our favourite pleasant faces to get up to has disappeared with out a hint. What occurred to Kate Merrill?
Each morning, we used to get up to the smiling faces of Kate Merrill, Liam Martin, and Zack Inexperienced on the morning information. However now, all three of them are absent on Boston’s WBZ-TV after Kate’s sudden departure. She was a staple on the Boston information channel, not solely on the morning present, however she additionally lined Boston’s largest information occasions, from the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 to the a number of Patriots Tremendous Bowl wins.
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Kate labored with WBZ-TV for over 20 years earlier than making the transfer to depart shortly after her coworkers, and now followers are speculating as to why she left. So what occurred to Boston’s Kate Merrill and can she ever return to WBZ?
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What occurred to Kate Merrill? She determined to depart WBZ-TV.
In keeping with Kate’s LinkedIn, she began working with WBZ-TV in March 2004, over 20 years in the past, though she hasn’t up to date her LinkedIn to mirror her exit from the community. Earlier than that, she labored shortly with WNBC-TV and WKRN-TV beginning in 1998, proving her tenure as an anchor.
However she was noticeably absent after a Might 14 phase in regards to the arrival of migrant youngsters to the world’s public colleges. Whereas followers speculated she could have been on trip, the community lastly confirmed Kate’s exit to The Boston Globe on June 3. “Kate has determined to maneuver on from WBZ,” they mentioned in a press release. “Thanks for the inquiry. We worth our loyal viewers.”
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The community supplied no additional data to the Globe, however reporting uncovered that Kate’s bio and picture have been additionally faraway from the WBZ web site. The sudden nature of Kate’s departure has led followers to take a position in regards to the behind-the-scenes practices of WBZ-TV since she adopted within the footsteps of her two former co-workers, Liam and Zach.
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Followers have speculated that Kate’s exit is said to the change in legal guidelines round noncompetes.
In 2023, the Federal Commerce Fee created further pointers for contracted noncompetes known as the Remaining Noncompete Rule. Earlier than this, corporations have been allowed to place noncompetes in place at liberty, a standard observe for reporters that usually ties them to a information group for lengthy durations of time. Noncompetes typically stipulate that one who leaves their job can’t work for a competitor.
Nevertheless, the brand new rule states, “Present noncompetes with staff aside from senior executives should not enforceable after the efficient date.” Whereas many would possibly anticipate Kate to be a senior govt primarily based on her tenure with WBZ and that her wage is probably going far increased than the $151,164 requirement, she might not be in a “policy-making place.”
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The brand new rule goes into impact Sept. 4, 2024, which signifies that if Kate merely stop in Might, she’ll have a summer time trip earlier than a brand new potential job with none authorized penalties for breach of contract. Alternatively, Kate could have left for comparable causes as Liam, who wrote a complete piece for Boston Journal titled, “Why I Left My Dream Job at WBZ.”
“I used to be up at 2 a.m. and (on a superb day) in mattress by 7:30 p.m,” he wrote. “Once I first took the job, a superb good friend who had labored the morning shift for years informed me, ‘You’ll all the time really feel a little bit like shit.’ He was proper.” Maybe working morning hours took an identical toll on Kate’s psychological well being, however she’s not but prepared to talk about it. It’s potential she noticed her former co-workers residing a lot happier lives after quitting.
Whatever the motive, we hope we’ll see Kate once more quickly.