Ex-Billboard editors file $29M sexual harrassment suit
By Emanuella Grinberg, Court TV
NEW YORK (Court
TV) —
Two Billboard magazine editorial staffers who were escorted out of the
110-year-old trade publication's Manhattan office last month are not going
quietly. Former editor in chief Keith Girard and senior editor Samantha
Chang filed a sensational complaint in N.Y. Supreme Court Wednesday,
alleging that "gender and race-based discrimination, sexual harassment,
retaliatory firings, intra-office sabotage, and other wrongdoing ... took
place in the offices of the music industry's leading trade
publication." The suit seeks more than $29 million in damages from the
defendants, Dutch media conglomerate, VNU and its American subsidiaries;
John Kilcullen, president of VNU's Music and Literary Group and publisher of
Billboard magazine, and Ken Schlager, executive editor of Billboard
magazine. "After a long investigation, we approached [the defendants] to see if
they wanted to redress the situation," the plaintiffs lawyer, Kyle Biscegli,
told Courttv.com. "But they refused, and I believe the complaint really lays
it all out." The 43-page complaint details the acrimonious
relationship between the plaintiffs and Billboard magazine staff that began
in April 2003 and ended in May 2004, when the plaintiffs say they were fired
without cause. The suit alleges upper management perpetuated "an
atmosphere of sexual and racist intimidation of and discrimination against
female and minority employees." In particular, Chang accuses Billboard
executive editor Ken Schlager of keeping a green vibrator in plain sight on
a shelf in his office that he often used to "intimidate" female
employees. On at least three occasions, Chang claims Schlager removed
the vibrator from the shelf and showed it to her. On one of those occasions,
in front of other employees, he allegedly told her, "The batteries still
work." She also claims that whenever a matter pertaining to Asian
affairs came up during editorial meetings, Schlager would joke, "That's
something for Samantha to handle," usually causing laughter among the
staff. The complaint also describes an instance in which Schlager
approached Carla Hay, the magazine's only African-American female editorial
staff member, during a business trip. "I have something to show you in
my room," the married Schlager told Hay. When she reported the incident to
VNU's Human Resources office in New York, no one investigated the incident
or took steps to address it. Girard claims when he approached
publisher John Kilcullen to address the issues, Kilcullen rebuffed his
requests to reprimand or fire staffers. "To the contrary, Kilcullen
aided and abetted their conduct by repeatedly blaming problems on Chang and
Hay," the suit says. Additionally, the suit describes a work
environment in which "sexual philandering among junior and senior level
staff members was not only condoned but encouraged," and could lead to
career advancement. The plaintiffs cite two separate instances in
which Schlager and Kilcullen engaged the company of a junior-level staff
member in plain view of other Billboard staff members, leading them to
believe the woman had received favorable treatment in exchange for sexual
contact. In particular, the suit points to one incident in which
Schlager and the female employee allegedly "engaged in horseplay in a hotel
swimming pool, during which she lost the bottom half of the bikini she had
been wearing, and Schlager touched her in a sexual manner." The suit
also implicates Kilcullen in pursuing the same woman at a February 2003
conference in Cannes, France, where VNU employees reported the two spent a
late evening together and then failed to appear for the next day's
events. "After a careful review, we believe that the claims have no
legal or factual merit," Deborah Patton, Vice President of Communications
for VNU told Courttv.com. "Therefore, we intend to defend the lawsuit
vigorously."
