Ex-Seven West Media ­employee reveals affair with now company chief executive Tim Worner

An ex-Seven employee claims she was paid to remain silent after affair with the company’s now CEO Tim Worner.

Seven chief executive Tim Worner. Picture: John Feder

A former Seven West Media ­employee claims she was paid more than $150,000 to remain ­silent after an 18-month affair with the company’s now chief executive, Tim Worner.

Amber Harrison, a former executive assistant at the media company, confirmed she had circulated details of the affair, which she says began in 2012. ­Reports of the affair, ­including sexually explicit messages and rendezvous for sex, have emerged after negotiations ­between the company and Ms Harrison over a new ­financial settlement broke down.

Amber Harrison

Ms Harrison claims she left the company after she began to ­unravel emotionally after she was moved to the same office building as Mr Worner and had to see him more often in a work setting.

It is understood Ms Harrison did not directly report to Mr Worner. However, documents provided to The Australian show her departure coincided with the discovery of irregularities in her ­expenses of more than $270,000.

In her statement, Ms Harrison alleged the consensual relationship involved clandestine meetings at Seven events, including the Australian Open in Melbourne and a conference held by Seven to celebrate Mr Worner’s promotion to CEO. “The affair began the month after the board meeting at ­Pacific Magazines. We started flirting and soon after Tim began texting and emailing me for sex,” Ms Harrison said.

“I knew he was married. It was never about love. It was about sex and power. He likes having a bit on the side. I found our relationship, if you’d call it that, thrilling to begin with.”

She claimed Mr Worner’s bonus was cut in 2014 by $100,000.

A Seven source has told The Aus­tralian that Mr Worner apologised for an “inappropriate relationship” with a Seven West employee before he became CEO.

But the source rejected suggestions Ms Harrison’s alleged misappropriation was found as a result of an investigation but rather had been detected in “random checks” that triggered an automatic review.

Ms Harrison said she received the $100,000 as part of a confidentiality settlement in August 2014.

However, she was made ­redundant in a second agreement in November 2014, in which the company offered to pay her more than $300,000, plus $50,000 for legal expenses.

Ms Harrison said on Sunday night she was never paid $300,000 from the new agreement, and attempts to negotiate a third broke down in the last few weeks. “They underestimated what I would do,” she said.