Andrea Mackris and Rebecca Gomez Diamond have joined the suit filed on Dec. 4 by Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a former Fox News producer.
Like Bernstein, both Mackris and Diamond were cited in an April 1 report in the New York Times as having obtained settlements for alleged workplace misconduct. Mackris filed a detailed sexual harassment suit against O’Reilly in 2004, and received approximately $9 million, according to the Times. The story alleged that at least five women had received $13 million in settlements.
O’Reilly, who was fired in response to the story, denied that anyone had complained to Fox’s human resources department. He later claimed that the allegations against him were politically and financially motivated. Fox News also stated in the April 1 story that no one had made use of the company’s harassment hotline.
In their suit, Mackris and Diamond say they both complained about sexual harassment to Fox News’ VP of legal, Dianne Brandi, in accordance with the company’s internal policy manual.
“Of course they complained,” the suit states. “Plaintiffs did complain internally to Fox News in a timely manner. They all settled their complaints.”
Since he was fired, O’Reilly has continued to defend himself publicly. The lawsuit takes issue with O’Reilly’s public claim that “no one was mistreated on my watch,” alleging that the statement defames the three former Fox employees.
Neither O’Reilly nor Fox News immediately responded to a request for comment.
Article Appeared @http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/bill-oreilly-defamation-more-accusers-1202646279/