Another scandal rocks Nine as a junior employee accuses a male colleague of sexually assaulting her after a work Christmas party

A junior female employee at Nine Entertainment was allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior male colleague after a work Christmas party.

The explosive allegations emerged following an independent investigation into the media company’s systemically toxic culture by culture company Intersection.

The woman and the manager had left the party together and returned to her home in Sydney when the alleged assault took place, The Australian reports.

It is understood the alleged victim did not report the incident to police or mention it to her employer at the time, or when she left the company.

Neither she nor the senior manager worked in Nine’s news and current affairs department.

The woman provided details of the alleged incident to Intersection’s investigation and has also spoken to law firm Ashurst, the publication said.

The woman also claims she was a victim of harassment, which prompted her to leave the company in 2022. She received a five-figure payout at the time.

A spokesperson for Nine told the publication it did not comment on individual cases.

A female junior employee at Nine Entertainment was allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior male colleague after a work Christmas party (stock image)

“While we do not refer to individuals, more broadly Nine is committed to investigating all complaints made by employees to Nine through the channels we make available to our people,” a spokesperson said.

“We encourage our people to respect the process of any investigation. We try to provide as much transparency as possible about the processes involved, but we do not and will not comment on individual cases.

‘Confidentiality is fundamental to ensuring a fair and just investigation and strengthening trust in our systems and processes. Again, generally speaking, it is important to note that we are alert to and actively look for inappropriate behavior in the workplace, and that we empower our leaders to take action if they see bad behavior, even if there is no complaints are filed.’

Intersection’s report found that Nine had ‘a systemic problem with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment’.

More than 120 past and present employees took part in the assessment and reported their own experiences of inappropriate workplace behavior within the media and entertainment giant.

The Intersection survey found that 57 percent of staff in the media company’s broadcast division had experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment in the past five years, while a third said they had been sexually harassed in the same period.

According to the report, the company’s toxic culture was enabled by ‘a lack of accountability from leadership; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels of the company.”

It is understood staff were told that because the review was carried out by an external company, none of the complaints would result in action being taken against individual perpetrators without a separate internal investigation.

Nine’s board said the report had made 22 recommendations to reset the company’s culture and that it had committed to implementing all of them.

The recommendations include revising and updating the company’s code of conduct, exploring an external complaints management system, establishing a best practice process for recruitment and updating mandatory training on inappropriate workplace behaviour.