Amaani Lyle was fired four months into her job for Warner Brothers as a writers’ assistant on “Friends” because she couldn’t type fast enough to record the writers’ dictation accurately. She sued for sexual harassment because the comedy writers would regularly make jokes about women and sex in the process of writing a sitcom about the sexual adventures of six thirty-somethings. A California appeals court has decided that a jury should resolve whether the jokes made by the comedy writers were appropriate for writing a sitcom or whether they created an actionable “hostile working environment for women.” Summary judgment was affirmed with respect to the dismissal of her lawsuit against NBC, because NBC did not have the right to hire or fire writers’ assistants on the television show, but the court reversed the award of attorneys’ fees. (“C.A. Limits ?Creative Necessity? Defense in ?Friends? Harassment Case”, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, Apr. 22; AP, Apr. 22; Lyle v. Warner Bros. Television Prod. opinion). Updates: Jul. 19, Jul. 31.
Court to sitcom writers: dirty jokes are actionable
Amaani Lyle was fired four months into her job for Warner Brothers as a writers’ assistant on “Friends” because she couldn’t type fast enough to record the writers’ dictation accurately. She sued for sexual harassment because the comedy writers would regularly make jokes about women and sex in the process of writing a sitcom about […]
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