Andrea Mackris
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Andrea May Mackris is a former FOX News television producer in the United States who accused cable talk show host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment. She alleged both of the legally cognizable types of sexual harassment, quid pro quo and hostile work environment.
Mackris was born in 1971 in St. Louis, Missouri to parents Constantine and Marilyn. After graduating from Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis in 1989, she attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where she received a B.A. in English in 1993. She later moved to New York, where she attended Columbia University. [1]
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[edit] The lawsuit
On October 13, 2004, after settlement talks had failed, Mackris filed suit against O'Reilly and FOX News in the New York Supreme Court (in that state, the "Supreme Court" is a trial court) for 60 million dollars in damages, which exceeds the jurisdictional limit of that court.
[edit] The allegations
In her complaint, Mackris produced what she claimed to be quotations from phone conversations between herself and O’Reilly in which he suggested various sexual practices for the two. A widely publicized such conversation included a scenario where O'Reilly would massage her with a loofah in the shower. At one point during the conversation, O'Reilly mistakenly referred to the loofah as "the falafel thing." "Falafel" eventually became a short-hand reference to the affair for O'Reilly's critics. The complaint detailed a number of other sexual conversations and encounters between O'Reilly and Mackris [2][3], as well as some of a non-sexual nature, such as O'Reilly stating that radio talk show host Al Franken would "get what was coming to him,"[4] and that any woman who crossed him or Fox would be destroyed.
[edit] The response
Fox and O'Reilly responded aggressively to Mackris's allegations. On October 15, 2004, Fox sought judicial permission to fire Mackris, and sought to convince the court that the firing was not illegal retribution for the sexual harassment lawsuit. On October 19, 2004, Mackris filed an amended complaint, adding further details to her complaints of sexual harassment, noting that O'Reilly had not denied her claims of sexual harassment but only responded with procedural arguments, and asked for further damages for what were described as illegal retaliatory actions taken against her by O'Reilly, Fox News, and the News Corporation-owned newspaper, The New York Post.
On October 21, 2004, both sides agreed to a one-week postponement of legal proceedings, leading to speculation that settlement negotiations would resume. Press reports had said there had been prior discussions of a potential settlement of about US$2 million, but no formal offer had been made. Mackris' attorney, Benedict P. Morelli, one of Manhattan's leading employment discrimination lawyers, had said that the figure was too low to be accepted.
[edit] The settlement
On October 28, 2004, O'Reilly and Mackris reached an out of court settlement, and dropped all charges against each other. No announcements were made about Mackris' future work with O'Reilly, the amount of the settlement, or any plans for a public explanation or apology by O'Reilly.
According to several published reports, as part of the settlement O'Reilly allegedly paid Mackris 10 million dollars, but the terms of the agreement are confidential.[5] Mackris' complaint had also sought additional damages and described alleged actions of retaliation by Fox, et al.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Andrea Mackris
- ^ O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
- ^ O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
- ^ O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
- ^ a b Howard Kurtz (October 29, 2004). Bill O'Reilly, Producer Settle Harassment Suit. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
