Moment Channel Seven reporter learns she is being sacked

This is the moment a promising, young TV reporter is sacked after making a complaint about an older, male colleague allegedly sexually harassing her.

Amy Taeuber had been a Seven News cadet in Adelaide for a less than a year in March 2016 when she allegedly objected to a man asking, in the presence of other staff, if she was a lesbian.

The 27-year-old journalist’s identical triplet sister Sophie, who worked casually at the network, was present in the newsroom when her male colleague is alleged to have remarked on her single status.

Amy, who had started as a cadet in July 2015, heard about the remarks from her colleagues. 

Several weeks after making that complaint, she was dismissed by a human resources officer by telephone.

In that recording, Amy Taeuber is denied the right to have another staff member present for morale support, which is illegal under the Fair Work Act, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance told the ABC.

She is also denied the right to know the full details of new allegations levelled against her by the Seven Network.

A female human resources officer tells her she will be relieved of her duties and told to hand in her phone and security card, surprising Amy.

‘Is this actuallly for real?,’ she says in the audio she recorded on her smartphone.

‘I would like to know who has made these allegations.’

Amy Taeuber (centre) was sacked after his sister Sophie (left) heard a male colleague suggest her sister was a lesbian. Kate (right) ran a satirical website about My Kitchen Rules

The ABC’s 7.30 program, which played that recording of her dismissal, says Seven had gone through her emails and alleged she had bullied fellow cadet Peter Fegan, who is based in Sydney.

However, a Seven Network spokesman Simon Francis has denied that allegation.

‘On the record we can say that there was an investigation into alleged breaches of Amy Taeuber’s employment contract,’ he said in a statement.

‘Amy was dismissed because of what she said during the investigation which conflicted with the facts and not for the reasons suggested. 

‘Seven’s HR team did not try to build any case against her and their investigation was not related to any complaint made by Amy about other staff.’

Amy Taeuber (left) was sacked while her sister Sophie (right) stopped getting casual work

Amy Taeuber (right) was accused of bullying fellow Seven News cadet Peter Fegan (left)

Amy Taeuber and Mr Fegan had regularly played pranks on each other, with the ABC airing video footage of the Seven cadets from across Australia joking with one another.

The sacked former Seven cadet,  who reached a confidential settlement with the network earlier this year, was recorded expressing her distress at being dismissed.

‘I’m just feeling very victimised to be honest and … I’ve worked so hard to get this job and I know people are just trying to get rid of me now and it’s really upsetting because I really don’t deserve any of this for standing up and having a problem with someone calling me a lesbian,’ she said. ‘It’s just ridiculous.’

Terry Plane, the former news director at Seven in Adelaide who hired Amy but quit before she was sacked, described her as a dogged and persistent cadet.

‘Really, what every news director likes,’ he told the ABC.  

Amy’s mother Linda said her daughter was sacked for taking stand against sexual harassment

Amy’s mother Linda said she was upset Seven had compared the looks of her daughters Amy and Sophie.

Sophie stopped receiving freelance shifts at Today Tonight after Amy was fired. 

Amy’s identical triplet sister Kate ran a satirical website of Seven program My Kitchen Rules, which Amy had written comments on.

This had been used against Amy by the male colleague she had complained against, the ABC said. 

Linda said Amy had simply taken a stand against sexual harassment, after her male colleague suggested that one in three women were lesbians.

‘She’s a triplet so she must be a lesbian. Amy just took a stand that enough was enough,’ the mother said of her daughter. 

The male colleague continues to work at Seven.