A junior female employee at Nine Entertainment was allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior male colleague after a work Christmas party.
The explosive allegations have emerged following an independent investigation into the media company’s systemic toxic culture by workplace culture firm Intersection.
The woman and the manager had left the party together and went back to her home in Sydney when the alleged assault took place, The Australian reported.
It’s understood the alleged victim did not report the incident to police or told her employer at the time, or when she left the company.
Neither she or the senior manager worked in Nine’s news and current affairs department.
The woman gave details of the alleged incident to Intersection’s review, and has also spoken to law firm Ashurst, the publication reported.
The woman also claims she was the subject of bullying which led her to leave the company in 2022. She was given a five-figure payout at the time.
A Nine spokesperson told the publication it did not comment on individual cases.
A junior female staffer at Nine Entertainment was allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior male colleague following a work Christmas party (stock image)
‘While not making reference to any individuals, more broadly Nine is committed to investigating all complaints raised by employees with Nine through the channels we make available to our people,’ a spokesperson said.
‘We encourage our people to respect the process of any investigation. We endeavour to provide as much transparency as we can about the processes involved but we do not, and will not, comment on individual cases.
‘Confidentiality is fundamental to ensuring a fair and just investigation and reinforcing confidence in our systems and processes. Again, speaking generally, it’s important to note we are alert to and actively looking for inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and empower our leaders to take action if they observe poor behaviour, even if no complaints are made.’
Intersection’s report found Nine had ‘a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment’.
More than 120 past and present employees participated in the review and reported their own experiences of inappropriate workplace behaviour within the media and entertainment giant.
The Intersection investigation found 57 per cent of staff in the media company’s broadcast division had experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment over the past five years, with a third saying they had been sexually harassed in the same time frame.
The report said the company’s toxic culture had been enabled by ‘a lack of leadership accountability; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels of the business’.
It is understood staff were told that because the review had been conducted by an external company, none of the complaints would lead to action being taken against individual perpetrators without a separate internal investigation.
Nine’s board said that the report had made 22 recommendations for resetting its business’s culture and that it had committed to implementing all of them.
The recommendations included reviewing and updating the company’s code of conduct, investigating an external complaints management system, establishing a best practice process for recruitment and updating mandatory training on inappropriate workplace behaviours.
