CBS News Sued By TV Show Producer For Gender Discrimination

American News channel CBS News has been sued by a female TV show producer Tuesday alleging gender discrimination and retaliation on a complaint she filed against her male boss citing “inappropriate conduct.”

The lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting was filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court.

In the lawsuit, Cassandra Vinograd, 35, associate TV producer of “60 Minutes” alleged the network sidelined after her complaint against the Emmy-winning producer boss who texted her an “inappropriate photo.”

Vinograd has sought a jury trial to determine damages.

The TV producer was working in the London office of CBS since in June. Her previous stints included NBC News, The Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal. Gavshon was working with her in the London office.

The complaint said Michael Gavshon, 63 texted her a photo that made her feel “disgusted, uncomfortable and scared.”

Gavshon later texted her saying “sorry” and claimed the photo was intended to be sent to his sister, per the complaint.

According to the lawsuit, the photo had Gavshon and another man urinating on a pile of burning coal. It also accused Gavshon as a heavy drinker at work, per the New York Times .

According to the complaint, Vinograd felt “it was creepy and gross to receive a picture of her boss’s penis and urine stream.”

The CBS, parent company Viacom or Gavshon did not comment on the news.

Investigation gave clean chit to producer

The complaint said the HR department of CBS investigated after Vinograd raised the issue. They advised her to stay home if she is not comfortable working with Gavshon.

The CBS, after an investigation, said it could not find any substance in Vinograd’s claims about Gavshon’s drinking and concluded the controversial photo was sent by mistake and “no malicious intent” was involved.

In the lawsuit, Vinograd claimed, after the investigation, she was “excluded from emails, calls, and meetings.” As a result, co-workers started avoiding her “as if she committed wrongdoing.”

According to the Reuters report, sexual harassment allegations are not new in the CBS. It cited cases of anchor Charlie Rose, CBS Corp President Leslie Moonves and “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Jeff Fager who were fired or forced to resign.

Meanwhile, similar allegations against a colleague and management reflected in a lawsuit filed last week by Britt McHenry, a host on Fox News. Her lawsuit accused sexual harassment by co-host George ‘Tyrus’ Murdoch and vindictive actions by the network’s management.

The lawsuit argued that Fox News sidelined McHenry after she complained against Murdoch. The complaint also slammed Fox News for the probes it conducted using external law firms as “sham investigations,” CNN reported.

Wigdor L.L.P represented Vinograd on the lawsuit. The same law firm had represented a woman who made harassment allegations against the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who left the network in 2017.