The 37-year-old political reporter is suing Ten in the Federal Court over “toxic bullying culture” she allegedly endured while working alongside The Project’s Peter van Onselen in the Canberra bureau.She has been on leave since the middle of 2021, with documents filed in the Federal Court in January naming Network 10’s political editor among a number of employees.The matter faced court for the first time on Monday for a case management hearing in front of Justice Anna Katzmann, where Ms George’s barrister Siobhan Kelly revealed she would be filing a claim alleging sexual discrimination.“I have received recent instructions to file the claim alleging sexual discrimination,” Ms Kelly said.“It’s mandatory to file the complaint in the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) … that claim will be filed as soon as possible.“My client will ask the AHRC to terminate it and bring it to this court.”Ms Kelly said her client would be taking the steps within the next “week or two”.The court also heard Ms George was in hospital seeking medical treatment.Justice Katzmann made orders for an amended statement of facts to be served by April 1, with both Ms Kelly and Ten’s legal teams to agree on an amended statement of facts before another case management hearing after April 24.Court records show a statement of claim was lodged by Ms George at 9.54am on January 31 over an alleged “breach of general protections”.In the document, Ms George says she was belittled and humiliated by van Onselen, which he denies.Documents refer to a conversation with a Network Ten executive director about Van Onselen in which he allegedly called the political editor “bat**it crazy” but “didn’t give a s**t how she was feeling, and said “we just have to get used to it”.When she took up her role in the Canberra bureau Ms George was often told to write van Onselen’s packages in addition to performing her own work, court documents state.Ms George brought up what was happening to the executive director, who told her the bureau had “always been toxic” and she needed to “deal with it”.The lawsuit claims the “toxic bullying” culture at the Canberra bureau had reduced Ms George’s “standing and reputation” as a journalist.According to court documents, van Onselen refused to talk to Ms George, she was made to move desks and accused him of being “rude, intemperate, condescending and patronising, was snubbed of invited to coffee meetings with other staff and she was told to apologise to van Onselen for complaining about having to write his stories.“Ms George was subjected to workplace gossip, Ms George’s standing in the workplace was reduced and Ms George was denied the quiet enjoyment of her profession,” the statement of claim alleges.Ms George has also accused the political editor of sabotaging her career and trying to make a star out of rival reporter Stela Todorovic to “get back at her”.She claims executives later said van Onselen had “pumped up Ms Todorovic’s tyres too much” because he “had issues with Tegan and his agenda was to make Stela a star”.Tensions came to a head when Ms George claims she overheard sexist remarks by two men about a female colleague and reported it internally, but said she did not want to make a formal statement.She allegedly told her bureau chief: “Just so you know, I told HR I will not be giving a statement, speaking to them or participating in their ‘investigation’ in any way.”Ms George claims she was then put under pressure to take part in the investigation and threatened with disciplinary action.Days after being allegedly threatened, Ms George took leave after sleeplessness, stress, anxiety and vomiting. She has not returned to work since.The case continues.
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