CBS Says Les Moonves Will Not Receive $120 Million Severance

“In our view, they have a ‘check-the-box’ quality in wording, managing and enforcement,” the lawyers wrote.

They also called one particular provision of the company’s harassment policies — which explained that employees who complain about discrimination or harassment might experience “negative employment action” that would not be considered retaliation — “tone-deaf” and “highly unusual.”

“It detracts from any message that the company affirmatively encourages employees to raise questions and concerns,” the report said. “It is also likely to exacerbate fears about retaliation, which, based on our interviews, seems to be a particularly acute problem at CBS.”

The report also found that Mr. Moonves and about 30 other senior leaders were typically allowed to sidestep anti-harassment training. Some senior people in the news division historically had their assistants complete the training for them, the lawyers wrote.

In the past 13 months, CBS has undergone a companywide reckoning in the wake of the #MeToo movement. In addition to Mr. Moonves, Jeff Fager, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and Charlie Rose, one of the anchors of the network’s morning show, lost their jobs because of allegations about their conduct with CBS employees. Last week, The New York Times reported that the network paid a $9.5 million settlement to the actress Eliza Dushku in January. She claimed she had been written off the series “Bull” because she confronted Michael Weatherly, the show’s star, about harassing her on set.

The CBS board has dealt with its own upheaval. The group was reconstituted in September after the departure of Mr. Moonves, but before that it had become intensely factionalized. In May, several directors, along with Mr. Moonves, sued Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of the company, claiming she had breached her fiduciary duty by pushing for a merger with the cable network conglomerate Viacom, which she also controls.

The lawsuit exposed deep rifts within the board, with one group loyal to Ms. Redstone, another to Mr. Moonves and others debating which direction the company should take.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/business/media/les-moonves-cbs-severance.html?partner=rss&emc=rss