As first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, former SBS journalist Pallavi Jain is suing the network.
She is seeking to have her job reinstated with a general protections claim.
According to the Herald, Jain is claiming that she was fired by the network after she made repeated accusations of bullying against her executive producer. Jain made three complaints about the producer in question, Kumud Merani, between 2013 and 2019.
In 2016, an external investigation found that Merani had practised both bullying and harassment against Jain in the workplace. She also breached the SBS’s code of conduct.
Then, another investigation by Comcare found that Jain’s mental health struggles – including extreme anxiety – were connected to her work with Merani. Comcare also found that the network was liable for Jain’s medical costs.
Jain was then let go from the network in late 2019, after a rehabilitation program. According to her claim, SBS ruled that working under Merani was a key component of Jain’s role, which she was unable to perform.
Both Merani and Jain worked in the SBS‘s Hindi language team.
An SBS spokesperson told B&T that “it is not appropriate for SBS to comment on matters which are the subject of current legal proceedings, but SBS denies the allegations.”
They said that SBS will be “vigorously defending the proceeding”.
Last year, a number of former Indigenous staff alleged that they had experienced racism while working at the broadcaster, while newsreader Lee Lin Chin left her newscaster role over the mistreatment of staff.
