Fox News fined $1 million as part of sexual harassment investigation settlement

Fox News office.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

As part of its probe into sexual harassment claims made against Fox News, New York City's Commission on Human Rights fined the network $1 million on Tuesday.

The fine is the highest ordered in the commission's history, USA Today reports, and the first settlement against a major news network. The investigation began after several Fox News personalities — including former chief Roger Ailes and former anchors Bill O'Reilly and Ed Henry — were accused of sexual harassment and retaliation. Ailes died in 2017, one year after former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment.

As part of the settlement, Fox must also institute a policy and complaint procedure for the reporting of harassment and discrimination; provide harassment and bystander training that is approved by the human rights commission; and for four years, stop requiring mandatory arbitration over human rights claims made in New York. Mandatory arbitration, the commission said, is a "widely criticized practice that is often the most significant barrier to determining whether a workplace has a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and prevents victims from seeking relief" in court.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In a statement, Fox News Media said it is "pleased to reach an amicable resolution of this legacy matter" and "has already been in full compliance across the board, but cooperated with the New York City Commission on Human Rights to continue enacting extensive preventative measures against all forms of discrimination and harassment."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.