21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, has settled a range of racial and gender discrimination lawsuits for approximately $10 million, a new report says.
The settlements impacted 18 current and former employees, including a class action racial discrimination lawsuit filed by anchor Kelly Wright and several staff members from Fox’s accounting department in 2017, the New York Times reports.
The deals require employees to drop their claims, leave Fox News if they are still with the network, and agree not to pursue employment at Fox News or other companies owned by 21st Century Fox, a document reviewed by the Times says.
In the class action lawsuit, the staffers allege they told network executives about the “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination” they experienced, but no measures were taken to address their concerns.
Another settlement was arranged as part of a race, gender, and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed in 2016 by a former reporter with Fox News’ New York affiliate, Fox 5. A separate gender discrimination lawsuit involving a Fox News radio journalist was also settled.
“The parties have reached mutual agreements that resolve various cases involving former Fox News employees,” a Fox News spokesperson and Douglas H. Wigdor, lawyer for the staff members, said in a joint statement, per the Times.
The settlements come after former anchor Gretchen Carlson reached a $20 million deal with the network after she filed a lawsuit against Fox News’ founding chairman Roger Ailes.
Last summer, 21st Century Fox incurred about $50 million in settlement costs over a one year period from sexual harassment and discrimination accusations made against Fox News, according to the Times.
