Jackie “O” Henderson made multiple complaints about Kyle Sandilands over a 14-month period before she was terminated by ARN.
News.com.au understands that Jackie made repeated verbal and written complaints to the radio network about Kyle and his behaviour towards her, both on The Kyle and Jackie O Show and off air, but no steps were taken by ARN to remedy the situation.
After almost three weeks of silence, Jackie has formally lodged proceedings against her former employer, ARN, claiming she was unfairly dismissed and is seeking “at least” $82 million in compensation.
It’s understood Jackie’s issues with her cohost — raised with ARN before the network canned the show and ultimately terminated both stars’ contracts — do not stem solely from the on-air argument between the hosts on February 20, but rather from ongoing issues that had become normalised in their workplace.
It is also understood Jackie did not ask for Mr Sandilands to be fired or removed from the show before she was terminated; instead, she requested a safe workplace.
She will now argue that ARN failed to provide this and instead unfairly tore up her $100 million contract.
‘Nothing like that’: Kyle had no idea about Jackie’s previous complaints
A source close to Kyle has claimed that the shock jock was only made aware of other complaints from Jackie after his contract was terminated.
They claimed that during internal meetings with ARN from the time he was suspended on March 3 until his contract was torn up 14 days later, no prior complaints or issues were raised.
“There was nothing like that, they acted like it was over that (February 20) disagreement,” the source said.
Kyle has been made aware of other complaints via legal letters since his axing, but even then, the information has been vague.
News.com.au understands that the shock jock still has not been given any examples of off-air bullying of Jackie by ARN.
“I don’t know why ARN, if they did have that information (about Jackie), I don’t know, why they sat on it,” the source said.
Ultimately, the source believes that Jackie never meant for anyone’s contracts to be torn up.
“I think Jackie was angling towards, ‘Help me find a solution with this’ rather than, ‘I want to set my contract on fire,’” they said.
Kyle is now taking ARN to court and claiming his contract termination is “invalid”. He is seeking damages over the collapse of his $85 million broadcasting deal.
‘Bullying complaints’: Jackie O’s legal fight starts
Jackie officially launched legal action against ARN this morning for unlawful termination and wants at least $82 million in compensation.
This comes three weeks after Jackie dropped her bombshell, stating she did not quit or resign, after ARN announced her contract had been terminated.
In a statement sent to the ASX this morning, it was revealed that she had sent a “complaint letter” to her former employer which said she “cannot continue to work with Mr Sandilands”.
The legal letter also made health and safety and “bullying complaints” in relation to Kyle and his conduct on and off-air.
Jackie is now claiming her contract was unfairly terminated.
ARN disputes the claims and intends to defend the proceedings.
‘What happened on air?’: The fight that set off a chain of events.
During the infamous on-air spat, Kyle accused his co-host of being “off with the fairies” and made her cry.
Their argument stemmed from the fact Kyle was fed up with Jackie’s love of star signs and astrology.
He claimed in their fiery on-air clash that “everyone” in the building had been asking, “What is going on with Jackie?”
Jackie tearfully claimed his criticism was an “attack” on air, and then took a week off from their hit radio show.
She never returned to work with Kyle, because ARN then announced in a shock statement that her contract was terminated and that Kyle had been suspended for “serious misconduct”.
He was also terminated 14 days later.