Contributor files sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News

Another Fox News host hit the network with a lawsuit on Monday that includes allegations against former chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.

 

Julie Roginsky, who appeared regularly on the network most notably on news discussion programs “Outnumbered” and “The Five,” filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Ailes and co-president Bill Shine, claiming that Ailes sexually harassed her and that when she refused his advances, she was denied a job opportunity. 

 

Roginsky is represented by the same attorneys who handled Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit filed in July in New Jersey. Ailes resigned two weeks after Carlson’s suit, filed following an internal investigation led by an outside law firm. 

 

The Justice Department is also currently investigating Fox regarding payments to various Ailes accusers.

{mosads}Roginsky claims a promotion to a regular spot co-hosting the “The Five” was “contingent upon having a sexual relationship with Ailes.” She said she refused and the position was awarded to political commentator and Hill contributor Juan Williams instead in late 2015. 

Roginsky has appeared on Fox News since 2005. She signed as an exclusive contributor to the network in 2011 and has been renewed three times since, according to the complaint. 

“Ailes repeatedly called Roginsky into his office for one-on-one meetings, telling her that he really liked her on ‘The Five,'” states the complaint. 

 

“During these meetings, Ailes would frequently steer the conversation to Roginsky’s personal life by asking, among other things, if she was dating anyone, why she was not married, what she was looking for in a man, and remarking that he did not understand why she was still single since she was so attractive.”

Ailes would allegedly “consistently position himself in such a way as to look down Roginsky’s dress,” adds the complaint.

Roginsky said in the complaint that she wasn’t able to get another meeting with Ailes after rejecting his alleged advances. 

Roginsky also alleges that the network’s lead lawyer, Dianne Brandi, was aware of her allegations against Ailes but that no one internally instructed her on how to contact investigators at the Paul Weiss law firm that looked into Ailes following the Carlson suit. She also claims executives “took no action to investigate” and “kept Ailes’ conduct secret and enabled it.”

The lawsuit charges damage to Roginsky’s career advancement and mental and physical pain. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. 

 

The Hill has reached out to Fox News and Roginsky for comment.