Detroit TV news anchor taken off air after sexual harassment lawsuit filed

Detroit TV news anchor taken off air after sexual harassment lawsuit filed

A former WXYZ-TV, Channel 7 News anchor claims she was forced to quit her job after accusing another anchor of sexual harassing her over a period of five years. 

Tara Edwards is now suing Scripps Media Inc., the company that owns Channel 7 News, seeking $100 million, according to attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who filed the lawsuit in federal court jointly with Michael N. Hanna of the Morgan & Morgan law firm

WXYZ's parent company E.W. Scripps Co. denies that Edwards was forced out of her job, and said in a statement that Maddox was disciplined after the accusations were reported and investigated.

The lawsuit outlines numerous allegations against TV anchor Malcolm Maddox, whom Edwards says took "hostile, offensive, unwelcomed and inappropriate" actions against her while employed at the media company from June 2011 until Dec. 31, 2016. 

Among the claims: 

• Maddox frequently invited Edwards to participate in "unwanted and unsolicited sexual acts that she found to be deviant and perverse."
• Maddox called Edwards a "little girl" and said she had not "met anyone like (Maddox), and that extends further than you can possibly imagine."
• Maddox exposed Edwards to sexual images and videos, including photos of Maddox's girlfriend and another female who worked at the news station.
• Maddox asked Edwards to look at pictures of his penis so she could "judge it on a scale of 1 to 10," and once tricked her into looking at a picture of his penis by asking her to look at a "work email"

The lawsuit says Edwards "repeatedly" told Maddox to stop with the "sexually harassing behavior," and that his actions "repulsed" her.

Edwards claims other coworkers informed her on Jan. 23, 2015 that Maddox had been spreading "false and perverse" rumors about her "for years," including that the pair were engaged in an affair, that Edwards allowed Maddox to urinate on her, that they had sex while on assignment in Florida, that he was the father of Edwards' unborn child and that she was "coaching" Maddox's girlfriend on how to sexually pleasure him.

Five days after learning about the rumors, Edwards notified management, according to the lawsuit, and an internal investigation substantiated some of the claims, as well as uncovering other inappropriate behavior involving other women at the station. 

WXYZ, the lawsuit claims, reacted with indifference, failed to sufficiently punish Maddox, and even promoted him to morning news anchor after the allegations.

The TV station countered in a statement that Maddox was immediately disciplined. 

"The investigation found that Maddox had engaged in inappropriate communications with coworkers that did not conform to the policies of WXYZ or its parent company The E.W. Scripps Co.," the company said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Maddox was disciplined immediately, receiving a two-week unpaid suspension, consistent with company procedures."

Edwards claims the rumors spread by Maddox led to a hostile environment and high-profile anchors cutting off relationships with her. Edwards says it was clear she would not be able to progress within the organization, leading to her being "constructively discharged" in December 2016.

WXYZ denied that Edwards was forced out.

"She was not fired or forced out -- she left the company voluntarily in December 2016 for personal reasons," E.W. Scripps Co. said in its statement. 

"When the events from the 2015 investigation were raised again in 2017, Scripps itself investigated, strongly encouraging employees to share anything they knew about the prior situation or possible problems since then. Nothing was reported that warranted additional discipline.

"Scripps then brought in an outside independent investigator early this year, who also found no evidence of further misconduct by Maddox after his 2015 discipline."

The company announced that Maddox would be taken off the air "for the time being" to avoid distraction from the station's journalistic mission.

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Source :http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2018/03/popular_detroit_tv_anchor_sexu.html

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