Fernando Gonzalez, who has been working as the Spanish-language announcer for the Lakers, has filed a lawsuit against the team and Time Warner Cable for discrimination and harassment.

Gonzalez said the Lakers treated him "differently from and less favorably than his Anglo-American counterparts in terms of wages, hours and condition of employment."

Gonzalez has been with the team since 1996, but in 2000, when the Lakers won the NBA championship, he and Pepe Mantilla were told they would have to pay $3,000 for a commemorative ring. "All" of the staff was given the rings for free. Chick Hearn defended both Gonzalez and Mantilla.

Gonzalez said that the Spanish-language team also didn't get season tickets when "other broadcasters were receiving as a matter of course."

He added that there was disparate pay, limited travel and fewer opportunities with the Lakers' new TV channel, and he hasn't had a one-on-one interview with Kobe Bryant.

Gonzalez says he rarely gets to travel with the team, but when he does, he has to "beg" for his per diem expenses. He said the situation worsened in 2012 when the Lakers and Time Warner teamed up to launch two local television sports channels. The announcer said that he and Mantilla were not considered when hiring people for TWC Deportes.

"Pinto and Marquez are less than forty years of age and have little or no experience in basketball," the complaint said.

The defendants in the suit are Tim Harris, the Lakers' chief marketing officer, Mark Shuken, Time Warner Cable's general manager and Pablo Urquiza, the vice president of programming. He is asking for at least $1 million.

"At the time of the filing of this complaint, plaintiff continues to be employed as an official Spanish-language play-by-play radio announcer for The Lakers, and the employer defendants continue to harass, discriminate against, and retaliate against plaintiff because of his race, national origin, and age," the lawsuit states.

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