Sinclair Broadcast Group sued by ex-employees for sexual harassment, discrimination

Three former employees are suing Sinclair Broadcast Group, accusing the company of ignoring sexual harassment and discrimination at its digital comedy group, Circa Laughs.

The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday that Jaclyn Mason, Richelle Meiss and Rebecca Zak filed a complaint against Sinclair and Circa Laugh in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Their complaint, filed on Thursday, also named Medio Pictures Partners, “Airplane!” writer and director David Zucker and Medio’s chief operating officer Randall Sherman.

The women are suing for sexual harassment, discrimination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other complaints.

{mosads}The three women, hired at Circa between July 2016 and March 2017, say Sherman “created an abusive work environment hostile to women by engaging in humiliating, demoralizing and alarming conduct,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The three women also reportedly said Sherman spoke to other employees about whether each of the three women “was or was not ‘f—able’ ” as well as saying that women must be attractive or “suitable for intercourse” in order to be valuable in the workplace, in addition to other derogatory remarks, according to the complaint.

In the complaint, the three women also allege Sherman, Zucker and Sinclair itself discriminated against female employees by paying women less than men, leaving women out of important meetings and rewarding only men with paid vacation days.

According to the publication, the complaint notes that Mason says she complained to Sinclair about Sherman’s behavior. Counsel representing Medio took statements from the three women and other female employees, but no action was taken, and the three women were later laid off, according to the complaint.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Manny Fantis, head of content and branding at Circa said the company “does not tolerate unprofessional behavior of any kind.”

“The allegations in this case are against an external service provider, not a Sinclair employee, and we will take steps to ensure that no one, regardless of their relationship with the company, compromises the positive work environment that we support,” Fantis said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The complaint comes as Sinclair is awaiting approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its proposed $3.9 billion purchase of Tribune Media, which would give the company access to 72 percent of America’s television audience.