Exclusive: Fed-Up Staff at KTVU Openly Hostile at Julie Haener's Excess Sick Days; Heather Holmes/Claudine Wong Among Those Ticked at Haener; ND Amber Eikel Allows "Double Standard"; More Turbulence at Fox2 Oakland Studio and Newsroom

HAENER MIA has co-workers STEAMED at KTVU

While her colleagues respect her work and acknowledge her influence at the station, the vast majority of staff at KTVU--including on-air anchors and reporters, are royally FED UP with the continued excess sick leave/days being allotted to Julie Haener.

It is so bad and toxic, the situation is, it's caused in-house clashes with personnel --including, notably, Heather Holmes and Claudine Wong, who have had to alter and reschedule their own shifts to fill in for Haener's frequent and extended absences at the station.

Furthermore, in the case of Holmes, who has a teenage daughter and who takes summer trips with her?-- she's had to work around Haener's MIAs to accommodate her own time off.

The situation has resulted in a now-fractured relationship with both, a duo (Haener-Holmes) so privately bonded and close they were considered the dual aces at the station. Now, Holmes, who's one of the rank and file anchors at KTVU, is no longer talking to Haener and only speaks to her when she has to and that's when they're both on the air.

Wong and a few veteran reporters have also largely began to separate any communication with Haener, who has now missed several days and weeks due to unexplained sick and vacation days. Haener, according to a KTVU source, is not physically ill. And her health status, says a high-up contact, has been verified by station and Fox brass.

Her mental state may be rife with depression, but peeps at KTVU tell me it's not an extreme matter and she's (Haener) able to work.

Moreover, Haener knows she has considerable leverage at KTVU. "She knows she's a star and that they (management) can't afford to lose her therefore she has free reign," a prominent source told me via email.

The feeling at KTVU is that Haener has milked her own status at 2 and that she is taking advantage at the expense of others. And now all this has transpired into a virtual warfare inside KTVU's newsroom. Staff personnel, which is especially sparse in August --a time when vacation by staffers is prevalent--has made things worse.

Not helping matters is KTVU's worsening ratings--especially at 10 PM--which has seen Channel 2's once-mighty nighttime numbers eroding en masse, caused considerable friction and turbulence with Amber Eikel and the news division. It is Eikel, the ND who already has a tortured relationship with staff, that continues to be met with derision and ridicule --now especially evident because Eikel allows Haener's behavior.

Haener was at the news desk on Sunday (she works a Sunday-Thursday schedule), but yes, called in sick last (Monday) night.

The souce talked of a double standard.

"The double standard is that many of the talent have children and families but aren’t always able to get their desired shifts. Julie, on the other hand would miss 3-4 days of work each time her son had a college football game, which are on Saturdays - the day she doesn’t work. It started off with her taking Sundays off so she could travel back home. Then it turned into her taking Thursdays and Sundays off. Then it turned into taking Weds, Thurs, and Sunday. People were and are resentful that everything revolves around her. The thought is Amber knows Julie holds all the cards and that we can’t afford to lose."

Haener returned to the airwaves on Tuesday night.

*Rich Lieberman 415 Media EXCLUSIVE