Seven’s CEO claimed that necessary steps had been taken to ensure staff are treated properly
Seven West Media's HR policies have been "stress-tested" and necessary steps have been taken to ensure staff are treated properly, according to the chief executive Tim Worner.
"I think that we've definitely stress-tested our human resources policies but actually we found that they were fine," said Worner.
"We've undertaken a little more work in terms of making sure that our people know what the rules are. Certainly, in the last six months we've undertaken a fair bit of work in that regard.
"But in terms of your question pointing to some sort of deficiency, I think that is wrong."
HRD contacted Seven West Media to enquire about how the policies were stress-tested, but a spokesman declined to comment.
When Worner was asked by the ABC if he was confident all necessary steps had been taken to ensure all Seven staff were treated properly, he replied "that's correct".
In April last year, Seven West Media announced the appointment of Katie McGrath as group executive of human resources.
Seven’s former HR head Melanie Allibon left the company in December 2016, shortly after the two-year affair between former executive assistant Amber Harrison and CEO Worner was made public.
Allibon played a prominent role in the efforts to negotiate Harrison out of the organisation after executive chairman Kerry Stokes was told about Harrison’s affair with Worner.
Also last year, audio emerged of a Channel Seven cadet journalist being dismissed just days after she made a complaint against an older male colleague.
At the time, Amy Taeuber complained about the male reporter for making “sexist” remarks about her marital status, and calling her a “lesbian”.
Taeuber produced a phone recording that was aired on the ABC’s 7:30 Report, which allegedly showed she was told to leave the building immediately after being presented with bullying allegations against her.
When HRD contacted Seven for comment, a spokesperson said in a statement that the program broadcast on 7.30 was neither “accurate nor balanced”.
