Broadcasting & Cable has obtained the sexual harassment complaint filed by former Fox News freelance production assistant Kim Weiler in U.S. District Court in New York. Here is a PDF of the document. Quoting from it:
| “Defendant Fox, including through its Vice President Joe Chillemi (‘Chillemi’), sexually harassed and subjected Weiler and a class of similarly situated female employees to a hostile work environment because of their sex. Chillemi routinely used gross obscenities and vulgarities when describing women or their body parts (referring, for example, to women’s breasts as ‘tits’ and declaring that something was ‘as useless as tits on a bull’). He routinely used obscenities and vulgarities with women employees that he did not use with male employees (such as telling women that they had put his ‘cock’ or ‘dick’ ‘on the chopping block’). Chillemi routinely cursed at and otherwise denigrated women employees and treated them in a demeaning way (including telling women not to be a ‘pussy’ but to ‘be a man,’ and referring to women as being a ‘bitch’). He made a number of derogatory comments about pregnant women (such as regularly stating that a pregnant woman had ‘tits’ that were ‘fucking huge’ and like ‘cannons’ or ‘melons’ and the on-air talent’s breasts needed to be ‘covered’ or not shown when the pregnant woman was being filmed). In addition, at a department discussion about a segment on sexism in the workplace, Chillemi said that in choosing who to hire ‘if it came down between a man or a woman, of course I’d pick the man. The woman would most likely get pregnant and leave.’ Women in the Fox Advertising and Promotions departments supervised by Chillemi were also referred to in a derogatory way by a supervisor as his ‘Promo Girls.’ |
Perhaps Mintz did not notice this part of the complaint:
| Defendant Fox has discriminated against Weiler and a class of similarly situated female employees in the terms, conditions and privileges of their employment, including assigning women primarily to freelance positions with less benefits, less advancement potential and less job security and not appropriately assigning women to full staff positions. Defendant Fox retaliated against Weiler for complaining about discrimination. Defendant Fox knew or should have known of the unlawful employment. |
> Update: 6:23pm: “These three allegations are factually and legally without merit and not worthy of a response,” Mintz said in a statement to TVNewser. “Weiler quit and never complained to FNC about any of the alleged discrimination.”
“Mintz disputes some of the alleged statements, but did not say which. He also acknowledges some of them are correctly reported,” Broadcasting & Cable says…
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