Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein Company Sued For Civil Rights Violations

The Weinstein Company isn’t out of the woods yet. The company and former boss Harvey Weinstein have been sued by the New York Attorney General for “egregious” civil rights violations, according to THR. The suit was filed on Sunday against Weinstein, his brother Bob Weinstein and the whole of the company, claiming that the company violated the state’s civil rights laws and New York City’s human rights laws during Weinstein’s time at the company.

The thirty-eight page lawsuit follows a four-month investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office. It alleges that Weinstein was abusive to his employees in the midst of his various sexual harassment and assault incidents, and further claims that there was virtually no enforcement of civil rights laws by TWC’s human resources department. The suit claims that Bob Weinstein and the board of directors were complicit in Weinstein’s actions.

According to the suit, TWC engaged in “a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment, and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends that extended from in or about 2005 through at least in or about October 2017.” Among the many claims is one that Harvey Weinstein would refer to female and male employees as “pussy” or “c—” when angry with their performance. It also includes some of the sexual harassment claims that have been made him, including one situation in 2015 where Weinstein allegedly called a female executive to his hotel room, where he was naked under a bathrobe. He asked for a massage and when she said no, Weinstein “cajoled, badgered, and insisted until she relented and, against her wishes, submitted to massaging him out of fear of employment-based retaliation by [Weinstein]. The incident was reported to Human Resources and to executives and board members of the company in November 2015, but TWC took no action to formally investigate the complaint, to protect employees from [Weinstein], or to prevent future recurrence of such conduct.”

It further goes on to claim that Weinstein created a culture at the company of sexual harassment. Among his alleged actions was conscripting a group of female employees he called “wing women” to accompany him to events and helping facilitate his sexual actions. A second group of assistants, largely women, were required to do things like maintain space on his calendar for sexual activity, and a third were required to meet with his prospective targets despite having primary jobs in film and TV production.

The lawsuit says that company executives failed on multiple occasions to employees from Weinstein’s sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination. It alleges that complaints which were raised against Weinstein were not handled, nor were they treated with confidentiality. At least one case was forwarded directly to Weinstein himself. Bob Weinstein is accused of knowing and permitting Harvey’s behavior.

Harvey Weinstein responded via a statement from his attorney, saying, “While Mr. Weinstein’s behavior was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality, and at the end of the inquiry it will be clear that Harvey Weinstein promoted more women to key executive positions than any other industry leader and there was zero discrimination at either Miramax or TWC. If the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform throughout the film industry, Mr. Weinstein will embrace the investigation. If the purpose however is to scapegoat Mr. Weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself.”

“As alleged in our complaint, The Weinstein Company repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “Any sale of The Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched. Every New Yorker has a right to a workplace free of sexual harassment, intimidation and fear.”