EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC

Filing 4

MOTION to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim or, Alternatively, for Summary Judgment with Memo in Support by FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit of Dianne Brandi, Esq., # 2 Exhibit A to Brandi Affidavit, # 3 (sealed)Exhibit B to Brandi Affidavit, # 4 Exhibit C to Brandi Affidavit, # 5 Exhibit D to Brandi Affidavit, # 6 Exhibit E to Brandi Affidavit, # 7 Exhibit F to Brandi Affidavit, # 8 (sealed) Exhibit G to Brandi Affidavit, # 9 Exhibit H to Brandi Affidavit, # 10 Exhibit I to Brandi Affidavit, # 11 Exhibit J to Brandi Affidavit, # 12 (sealed) Exhibit K to Brandi Affidavit, # 13 Exhibit L to Brandi Affidavit, # 14 Exhibit M to Brandi Affidavit, # 15 Text of Proposed Order)(Morris, Frank). Added MOTION for Summary Judgment on 11/5/2010 (znmw, ). Modified on 11/9/2010 (zrdj). (The exhibits contained privacy information and was restricted pursuant to the E-Government Act.) Modified on 11/9/2010 (zrdj, ).

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC

Doc. 4 Att. 1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTzuCT OF COLUMBIA

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTLTNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff,
- against -

,)
)

) )
) )

AFFIDAVIT OF' DIANNE BRANDI, ESQ.
10 Civ. 01660 (RJL)

FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC,
Defendant.

)
)

) )

STATE

OFNEWYORK

)

couNTY oF NEV/ YORK )

) ss.:

DIANNE BRANDI, ESQ., being duly sworn, deposes and says:

1.

I am the Executive Vice President for Legal and Business Affairs of Defendant Fox

News Network LLC ("Fox News"), and submit this affrdavit in support of Fox News' motion to
dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, for summary judgment. I am fully familiar with the facts
set

forth in this affrdavit.

2.

On September 30, 2010, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
a

("EEOC") filed a complaint against Fox News with this Court. The complaint concerns

retaliation claim made on the behalf of one of our current employees, Catherine Herridge, who is
a reporter

in our Washington, D.C. Bureau. For the convenience of the Court,

a

true and correct
documents

copy of the complaint is attached as Exhibit

A. ,In addition, all of the following

attached to my affidavit are true and correct copies of the originals, and are maintained by Fox

News in the ordinary course of its business:

Dockets.Justia.com

Exhibit

B:

the three-year Employment Agreement ("Agreement") between Fox

News and Ms. Catherine Herridge, dated February 2I,2006,

Exhibit C: the draft of

a proposed three-year renewal Agreement that

I prepared and

forwarded to Mr. Henry Reisch, Ms. Henidge's agent, on August 6,2008,

Exhibit

D:

an e-mail that Mr. Reisch forwarded to me on August 15, 2008, in which made

he declined, on Ms. Henidge's behalf, to entei into the proposed Agreement and
altemative proposals on Ms. Herridge's behalf,

Exhibit

E:

an e-mail that Mr, Reisch forwarded to me on September 12,2008, in

which he made additional proposals on Ms. Herridge's behalt

Exhibit F: my fax to Mr. Reisch, sent ôn September 17,2008, in which I stated that
Ms. Henidge's latest salary proposals were not helpful to the negotiation process,

Exhibit G: the discrimination and retaliation charge that Ms. Herridge filed with the
EEOC on September 16,2008,

Exhibit

H:

an e-mail that Mr. Reisch forwarded to me on February 5,2009, stating

that I had not responded to Ms. Herridge's recent proposal,

Exhibit

I:

my fax to Mr. Reisch, sent on February 13, 2009, stating

that
a

Ms. Henidge had not made any recent proposals, and
proposal that I made almost four months earlier,

I

was waiting for her response to

Exhibit

J:

an e-mail that Mr. Reisch forwarded to me on March 5, 2009, which

proposed new terms in the Agreement and did not challenge that Ms. Henidge had not responded

to my prior proposal,

Exhibit onJune 18,2009,

K:

the three-year Agreement that Fox News and Ms. Henidge entered into

Exhibit

L: M:

the Determination issued by the EEOC, dated March 31, 2010,

concerning the charge that Ms. Henidge filed with the EEOC on September 16, 2008,

Exhibit

a letter, dated June 3, 2010, which the EEOC sent to our co-counsel,

Bany Asen, stating that it recognized that Ms. Herridge's salary increase in her new Agreement
was paid retroactively.

3. I

wish to add and express my indignation about one aspect of the EEOC's

Determination. The Determination, which is attached as Exhibit M, states, in relevant part, that
Fox News distributed a company-wide e-mail discóuraging employee complaints soon after one of the times that Ms. Heridge complained. The e-mail itself does not mention Ms. Henidge by
name or reference her

in

arry

way. Ms. Henidge neither complained to me about the e-mail nor,

to my knowledge, complained to anyone else at Fox News about

it.

Moreover, although an

EEOC representative interviewed me as part of the EEOC's investigation, she did not raise the e-

mail as an issue during the interview or at any other time during the investigation. Fox News
leamed that the e-mail was a subject of the investigation only upon reading about EEOC's Determination.

it in the

DIANNE BRANDI
Sworn to before me this 1st day of November,2010.

Notary Public