Once people leave Fox News, they rarely give glowing reviews of their former workplace. Anchor Ed Henry upped the ante, telling his attorneys to sue for defamation of character. Earlier, the network fired him for alleged sexual misconduct.
Henry’s attorneys filed his lawsuit in U.S. district court in Newark, N.J. They will be going after punitive damages, claiming that executives at Fox News put out a statement that “sandbagged” Henry in July of 2020, as The USA Today newspaper reported.
The former employee’s lawyer filed a complaint on behalf of his client. He said:
‘On Thursday, June 25, we received a complaint about Ed Henry from a former employee’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago.’
He filed suit against, not only against Fox News, but also against CEO Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace, Fox News Media’s president and executive editor.’
‘We immediately retained an outside law firm (which has never represented Fox News in investigations or litigation) to independently investigate the claims. Ed was suspended the same day and removed from his on-air responsibilities pending investigation.’
Henry has denied allegations of misconduct while at the network. His lawsuit read:
‘[It gave] credence to the false allegations because she was trying to save her own career and burnish her image as a tough, no-nonsense female executive who cleaned up Fox News.’
The lawsuit wrote that Scott had a long history of cover-up:
‘Scott had long been an instrument to cover up the existence of sexual misconduct at Fox News [and top management covering up].’
Fox News released a new statement:
“As we stated one year ago, Fox News Media conducted a thorough independent investigation into Ed Henry immediately after we were made aware of a serious misconduct claim against him by a former employee. Based on the results of those findings, we promptly terminated Mr. Henry’s employment for willful sexual misconduct and stand by the decision entirely.’
Fox News said he needed to leave:
‘Fox news fully prepared to vigorously defend baseless allegations. [Henry’s lawsuit is rife with inaccuracies [and mockingingly] driving his personal life into the ground with countless extramarital affairs in a desperate attempt for relevance and redemption.’
As for the allegations about Scott’s role in covering up workplace misconduct, Fox said the company is proud of the work she has done:
‘[Fox likes what Fox has done to] transform the company culture, implementing annual, mandatory in-person harassment prevention training, creating an entirely new reporting structure, more than tripling the size of our HR footprint, conducting quarterly company meetings and mentoring events, as well as executing a zero-tolerance policy regarding workplace misconduct for which we engage outside independent firms to handle investigations.’
As a consequence, Fox News will pay a $1 million penalty. The New York City Commission on Human Rights will also be investigated for its alleged mentally unhealthy work culture.
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