Nine journalist Airlie Walsh sues for sex discrimination
Sydney TV journalist Airlie Walsh has filed a human rights claim in the Federal Court against Nine.
Sydney TV journalist Airlie Walsh is suing Nine over alleged sex discrimination in the workplace.
Walsh, who has worked in Nine’s Sydney newsroom for more than a decade, filed a human rights claim in the Federal Court last week.
She is currently on maternity leave.
Walsh’s legal action follows a separate claim made by former Nine Brisbane boss Amanda Paterson, who last week lodged a formal complaint to the Fair Work Commission, alleging she was unlawfully terminated by the media company.
Paterson is seeking unspecified damages arising from unlawful termination. It’s understood that Nine wants Paterson to sign a deed of release to resolve the dispute.
On Sunday, The Australian exclusively revealed details about Paterson’s claim, namely that she was fired during a seven-minute videolink meeting with Nine’s director of news and current affairs Fiona Dear.
Paterson was told her termination was the result of three alleged workplace breaches – her failure to complete in-house “training modules”; her botched handling of the contract extension of one of her staff; and a newsroom incident during which she praised her staff for their efforts and ratings success and in doing so made a lighthearted reference to a recent removal of “dickheads” in the company.
At no point was Paterson told by Dear, or the company itself, that her sacking was in any way related to the findings of Nine’s cultural review, conducted by external consultancy group Intersection earlier this year.
It’s understood that Walsh’s sex discrimination claim alleges misconduct by senior figures within Nine Entertainment.
No date has been set for an initial case management hearing.
Nine has been approached for comment.
The Australian has also sought to contact Walsh for comment.
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