Bill Maher & HBO Want Sexual Harassment Claim Gutted From Ex-‘Real Time’ Staffer’s Suit

deadline.com:

HBO and Bill Maher’s production company are seeking to toss out a sexual harassment claim that is part of a lawsuit from a former Real Time with Bill Maher staffer. “While all of Van Ham’s claims are without merit, her sexual harassment claim fails as a matter of law because (1) it is time barred, and (2) she does not plead facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action because she had failed to allege conduct that was both ‘because of’ her sex and also so ‘severe or pervasive’ that it altered the conditions of her employment,” states the defendants’ November 30 filed Demurrer without Motion to Strike to First Amended Complaint (read it here). “Accordingly, Defendants’ Demurrer should be sustained in full and without leave to amend,” the paperwork from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp’s Adam Levin and Sandra Hanian adds.

Not rehired by the HBO chat show in the second half 2020 as Covid-19 protocols opened up production again, long time set photographer Janet Van Ham sued HBO and Maher Live on July 31 for sexual harassment and retaliation under the Federal Housing & Employment Act, as well as wrongful termination.

Calling the long running Real Time a “hostile work environment,” Van Ham, who worked on the show from 2011 to 2020, alleges repeated harassing behavior over the year from one Alex Brooks and other male crew members who were buddies of Brooks.

Van Ham also spotlights how the production and CBS security at the Fairfax facility where the show is filmed did little to protect her or pursue her complaints, in her POV.