July 8 Lawyers for Fox News chairman Roger Ailes on Friday asked a federal judge to halt former anchor Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against him, and send the case to arbitration.
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Ailes claims that Carlson’s contract has an arbitration clause in it that prevents her from making employment disputes public in court.
The motion filed by Ailes’ attorneys said Carlson’s filing of the case in court was done “so that her counsel could tar Mr. Ailes’ reputation publicly, try this case in the media press, and coerce him to settle”.
The motion suggests Carlson’s suit names only Ailes-and not Fox News-as a means of avoiding the arbitration requirement.
Fox News executives have also cited handwritten correspondence from Carlson to Ailes that demonstrated a cordial relationship with him after a meeting on September 16 at which she alleged the executive made sexually explicit comments to her. One said when she was sixteen, Ailes brought her into an office, “proceeded to pull down his trousers and very gingerly pull out his genitals and said, ‘Kiss them'”.
Friday’s filings included a copy of what Ailes’ lawyers said was Carlson’s employment contract, which calls for employment disputes to be heard by a three-person arbitration panel.
Carlson sued on Tuesday, claiming she was terminated for refusing Ailes’ sexual advances and complaining about pervasive harassment in the workplace.
“Roger Ailes is trying to force this case into a secret arbitration proceeding”, the lawyers said in a statement. Gretchen never agreed to arbitrate anything with Mr. Ailes and the contract on which he relies does not mention and is not signed by him. “The federal court is the proper court to decide the motion because Ms. Carlson’s primary residence is in CT and Mr. Ailes’ primary residence is in NY”.
Ailes, 76, a former Republican political consultant and confidant of 21st Century Fox Executive Co-Chairman Rupert Murdoch, has built Fox News over two decades into the most-watched US cable news channel and become one of the most powerful American media executives.
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Fox News parent 21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal-owner News Corp were part of the same company until mid- 2013. Her attorneys had been working to see if additional testimony could be generated by what they said were contacts from former employees of Fox News Channel and their associates, all of whom were said to have supported Carlson’s contention that the network was suffused in a sexually charged atmosphere. She also said his decision on June 23 not to renew her contract was retaliatory.
