Fox News fined $ 1.4 million for sexual harassment and reprisal

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World

June 30, 2021 4:18 AM 5 minutes to read

This fine is the heaviest sanction in the city’s history for violations of laws protecting against sexual harassment and retaliation in the workplace. Photo / AP

New York City Human Rights Commission fined Fox News $ 1.4 million ($ 1 million), largest in history, for violating sexual harassment laws and retaliation at work.

As part of a settlement agreement announced today, Fox also agreed to require anti-harassment training for its New York-based staff and associates and to temporarily drop a policy requiring people alleging improper conduct engage in binding arbitration.

The sanction stems from an investigation that began in 2017 following several reports of what the commission called “widespread abuse” in popular media.

The first indication of trouble on the channel came in 2016 when former presenter Gretchen Carlson accused now-deceased network chief Roger Ailes of making unwanted advances and derailing his career when ‘she rejected it. Wings and former Fox personality Bill O’Reilly lost their jobs over allegations of misconduct.

Several other women have filed lawsuits and their own harassment allegations, including former Fox presenter Megyn Kelly.

The $ 1 million fine is made up of four separate “willful and without cause” offenses that each carry a maximum fine of $ 357,000 (US $ 250,000). The commission did not identify the people involved in these cases, or if there were any others.

Human rights officials have said they hope the heavy sentence will deter bad behavior in any workplace.

“If people would dare to break the law and discriminate or harass people, they will have to pay severe penalties,” said Carmelyn Malalis, president of the Municipal Human Rights Commission.

Fox characterized the cases as the product of a previous scheme and said the network cleaned up its act under the leadership of Suzanne Scott, current CEO of Fox News Media. The commission said it had not interviewed anyone who came forward after Scott took office in 2018.

“We are delighted to reach an amicable resolution of this legacy matter,” Fox said in a statement. Fox News Media has already complied at all levels, but has worked with the New York City Commission on Human Rights to continue to implement comprehensive preventive measures against all forms of discrimination and bullying.”

The commission said women who refused the advances faced retaliation with fewer on-air appearances and bad work assignments, and their text messages were being spied on.

Fox News “made sure those who complained didn’t have a future” by working for the network, he said in his findings.

In addition to the training requirement, the commission said Fox must maintain an anonymous hotline for employees to report harassment or retaliation in the workplace. Fox’s compliance will be checked by external inspectors four times in each of the next two years.

Malalis said she hopes the provision requiring Fox not to insist on compulsory arbitration to settle dispute forums that often benefit employers and keep allegations secret will be a model for similar settlements in the future. This provision will be in effect for four years.

“This is the essence of ‘me too’,” she said. “We are giving this back to the public so that people, whether it’s at Fox News or some other company, can say ‘This is happening to me.'”

People who have filed complaints will have a choice of where they can get their accusations broadcast, she said. The settlement does not affect confidentiality agreements, in which some employees leaving a company as a result of the misdeeds of others agree not to discuss the case in exchange for money.

Malalis said she couldn’t speak to the current work climate at Fox. Like many other companies, many of its employees have been absent from the office due to the pandemic.

“I’m not up there and can’t see what their day-to-day operations are,” she said. “It was the intention of this deal to shape what happens at Fox now and certainly what happens at Fox in the future.”

Since 2017, the commission has filed 521 complaints of gender-based harassment in the workplace, valuing $ 6.4 million ($ 4.5 million) in damages.

SEXUAL BAD – DO YOU NEED HELP?

If this is an emergency and you think you or someone else is in danger, call 111.

If you’ve been a victim of sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk in confidence:

Call 0800 044 334 Text 4334 Email [email protected] For more information or to chat online visit www.safetotalk.nz

You can also contact your local police station – click here for a list.

If you have been abused, remember that it is not your fault.

-AP

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