FOXA Fox Corporation

By Joe Flint 

Two black women have filed a lawsuit against Fox News Channel, its parent company 21st Century Fox and a former senior executive at the cable network alleging racial discrimination.

Tichaona Brown and Tabrese Wright worked in the payroll department for the cable news channel and allege that for years they were subject to racial slurs and insults by Judith Slater, the longtime comptroller of Fox News.

In a complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court in Bronx County, the two said they "suffered yearslong relentless racial animus at the hands of their white supervisor." Ms. Slater, the suit alleges, peppered her conversations with Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright with remarks about racist stereotypes, creating a hostile work environment.

A Fox News spokeswoman called the suit "needless litigation" since the company had dismissed Ms. Slater on Feb. 28. She said the network "takes complaints of this nature very seriously and took prompt and effective remedial action" adding "there is no place for inappropriate verbal remarks like this at Fox News."

The complaint cites examples of racist remarks including Ms. Slater asking Ms. Wright if her children were all fathered by the same man and telling Ms. Brown that blacks routinely mispronounce words. According to the suit, Ms. Slater once asked Ms. Brown to say certain words including "ask," "mother" and "father" out loud in a meeting.

Ms. Slater, who had been employed at Fox News for almost 20 years, declined to comment.

Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright say in the suit that their complaints about Ms. Slater's behavior were long ignored and Fox News only dismissed her after the network learned of their plans to file a lawsuit.

"To be clear, Ms. Slater was not terminated because she engaged in discriminatory conduct -- Fox was willing to let her get away with that for years. Rather, Slater was terminated because Fox knew this would become a public matter and wanted to salvage its reputation," the suit says.

The Fox News spokeswoman said the company "took the appropriate action in investigating and firing Ms. Slater within two weeks of this being brought to our attention."

The suit also claims that Ms. Brown was fired and Ms. Wright demoted. Fox News countered in a statement that Ms. Brown is still employed although she has tendered a resignation effective April 30. Ms. Wright was transferred to another finance division at the company with the same title, salary and benefits, the network said, since her suit involves the division she had been working in.

The firm representing Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright said it stood by its suit.

News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, and 21st Century Fox share common ownership.

The suit is the latest legal headache for Fox News and 21st Century Fox. The company is still dealing with the fallout from complaints from multiple women who say they were sexually harassed by Fox News' former chairman and chief executive, Roger Ailes, who resigned last July in the midst of a probe into his behavior. Mr. Ailes has denied the harassment accusations.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the company made insufficient disclosures about settlements of harassment claims. 21st Century Fox has said it is cooperating with the investigation, which is being spearheaded by the Southern District of New York. Former Fox News Chief Financial Officer Mark Kranz was offered immunity in return for cooperating with the probe, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr. Kranz didn't respond to requests for comment. The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Mr. Kranz had been offered immunity.

In November, 21st Century Fox disclosed it had paid $35 million in settlements related to Mr. Ailes during the most recent quarter. The bulk of that was a $20 million settlement to former on-air talent Gretchen Carlson whose suit against Mr. Ailes in July sparked a probe by the company into Mr. Ailes' conduct.

There have been additional settlements involving other Fox News employees and on-air talent since then. In January, Fox News settled a harassment claim made by former on-air talent Juliet Huddy against anchor Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Co-President Jack Abernethy. The network has said the claims are false and that both men "vehemently denied" them.

Last month, Fox News paid a settlement of close to $3 million to former on-air contributor Tamara Holder who alleged that a senior executive -- Francisco Cortes -- sexually assaulted her. He was terminated after Ms. Holder made a complaint. At the time, his lawyer said Mr. Cortes was considering his legal options.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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