Andrea Mackris (born 1971) is a FOX News producer who accused political commentator Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment. She alleged both of the legally cognizable types of sexual harassment, quid pro quo and hostile work environment. A high school graduate of Westminister Christian Academy , she could credibly claim longstanding personal opposition to the flagrant sexuality to which she claimed O'Reilly exposed her.

On October 13, 2004, after settlement talks had failed, Mackris filed suit against O'Reilly and FOX News in the Supreme Court of the State of New York (in that state, the "Supreme Court" is a trial court) for $60 million dollars in damages that exceed the jurisdictional allowances of the court.

The complaint detailed a number of sexual conversations and encounters between O'Reilly and Mackris [1] [2] .It also involved several bizarre events, such as O'Reilly threatening that Al Franken would get what was coming to him [3], and that any woman who crossed him or FOX would be destroyed.

Fox and O'Reilly made clear their determination to aggressively fight her lawsuit. On October 15, 2004, Fox sought judicial permission to fire Mackris, and sought to convince the Court that the firing was not illegal retribution for the sexual harassment lawsuit. On October 19, 2004, Mackris filed an amended complaint, adding further details to her complaints of sexual harassment, noting that O'Reilly has not denied her claims of sexual harassment, and asking further damages for what were described as illegal retaliatory actions taken against her by O'Reilly, Fox News, and the similarly owned newspaper, The New York Post.

On October 21, 2004, both sides agreed to a one week postponement of legal proceedings, leading to speculation that settlement negotiations would resume. Press reports had said there had been prior discussions of a potential settlement of about $2 million dollars, but no formal offer had been made, and Mackris' attorney Benedict P. Morelli, one of Manhattan's leading employment discrimination lawyers, had said that the figure was too low to be accepted.

An attorney, MBA, and Pennsylvania state legislator familiar with sexual harassment law, Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia, said that "If proven, the allegations in her complaint spell trouble for Bill O'Reilly and the corporate defendants. They document O'Reilly's knowledge of the illegality of his actions, his knowledge of her disinclination to participate with him, and her persistent reminders to him of their employer/employee relationship. The fact that she returned to The O'Reilly Factor after a period of absence does not indicate her acquiescence in O'Reilly's actions to her in and of itself: civil rights law is clear that sexual involvement is never a permissible condition of employment."

On October 28, 2004, O'Reilly and Mackris reached an out of court settlement, and dropped all charges against each other. No immediate announcements were made about Mackris' future work with O'Reilly, the amount of the settlement, or any plans for a public explanation or apology by O'Reilly. Information was released by Nielsen Media Research, however, that O'Reilly's television viewership on October 25, 2004 had hit 3.7 million, near the all-time high.

External links

• The Smoking Gun: O'Reilly: Female Aide In $60M Extort Bid
• The Smoking Gun: O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit