Fox News calls Tantaros an ‘opportunist’ in lawsuit response

Her lawsuit was filed about six weeks after Gretchen Carlson, another longtime Fox News anchor, sued Ailes for sexual harassment, claiming she was sacked for not acceding to his advances.

The main thrust of the filing in ny state Supreme Court is to urge that Tantaros be compelled to pursue her allegations in confidential arbitration proceedings, which have already begun, as the company says is required by her contract.

Fox suspended Tantaros with pay in April, saying that she breached her contract by publishing a book without permission.

In an unusual ploy – one Tantaros acknowledged Monday was a bid to win public opinion – she issued a “lie-detector test challenge” to Ailes, O’Reilly and Fox co-president Bill Shine.

In a separate court filing Monday, Mr. Ailes also sought arbitration to resolve Ms. Tantaros’s suit.

Fox News is still dealing with the fallout from the ousting of Roger Ailes, and Tantaros is the latest high-profile figure to come out to denounce his behavior and that of the entire network. If Fox News executives are innocent, “why do they want this dispute to be resolved in the shadows?” he said.

Ailes left the network in July. Fox News said it had already filed a demand for arbitration with Ms. Tantaros in May because of the book.

Garland said that when Tantaros complained of sexual harassment in February and March of 2016, she named four men – but not Ailes. She also alleged that the former senator said she “would be fun to go to a nightclub with”, and “snuck up behind” her while she was buying lunch and “put his hands on her lower waist”.

He added that any other encounters were “professional and cordial”, according to the paper.

Fox News and Ailes have denied Carlson’s allegations in the past, calling it a “retaliatory suit for the network’s decision not to renew her contract” because of “disappointingly low ratings”.

Mr. Ailes resigned last month after Fox News parent 21st Century FoxFOX 0.20 % launched a probe into allegations against him of sexual harassment.

The suit has obviously continued to focus media attention on allegations of harassment involving Fox News and its corporate culture. “Not to be outdone by anyone, she contends that she was sexually harassed by an ever-shifting collection of employees at Fox News; she charges that outside counsel retained by 21st Century Fox deliberately ignored her purportedly important harassment story (actually, her lawyer, Joseph C. Cane, Jr., failed to return a telephone call from the law firm, Paul Weiss, retained to conduct the investigation); and she claims retaliation even though she concedes that she has not been terminated and remains on Fox News’ payroll”.