With few options, she entered a settlement with CBS and signed a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of the settlement. The records are then sealed away.ĭushku, who has been acting since she was 10 years old and has built a reputation for playing ass-kicking characters in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Banshee was blindsided. Unlike cases tried in court, decisions are final and can't be appealed. A report by the American Association for Justice found that only 1.6 percent of arbitration cases in 2020 were decided in favor of the employee. The process is thus stacked largely in favor of employers and corporations. Instead, their complaints must be arbitrated in confidential, closed-door proceedings in which the employer chooses the arbitrator, often one it's used regularly. In effect, it preemptively strips employees, as a condition of employment, of the right to sue their employer in open court in the event that they suffer harassment, assault, or discrimination in the workplace. When Dushku decided to take legal action against CBS, she found that her employment contract included an arbitration clause-known variably as a "mandatory arbitration clause" or "forced arbitration clause"-a little-discussed provision that commonly appears in employment contracts across many industries. Dushku's contract had the potential option for six seasons, but she ultimately appeared in only three episodes of the series. I want to have a threesome with you too, Eliza.'" She said that only a day after privately approaching Weatherly to tone down the sexual comments, she was unceremoniously fired despite only receiving positive feedback from the network up until that point. Then, as I walked off to my coffee break between scenes, a random male crew member sidled up to me at the food service table and whispered, 'I'm with Bull. In another incident, she recalled, Weatherly "shouted out that he and his buddy wanted to have a threesome with me and began mock penis jousting while the camera was still rolling. "Off script, in front of about 100 crew members and cast members, he once said that he would take me to his 'rape' van and use lube and long phallic things on me and take me over his knee and spank me like a little girl," Dushku testified. She detailed unrelenting harassment at the hands of series star Michael Weatherly, and enabled by showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron, after being cast as a series regular during filming of the show's first season. Phil.” That series is produced and distributed CBS Television Distribution, a division of CBS Corporation.Last Tuesday, actor Eliza Dushku testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing entitled "Silenced: How Forced Arbitration Keeps Victims of Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in the Shadows." It marked the first time Dushku has been able to speak freely about her experience on the set of the CBS show Bull in 2017. Phil McGraw, who founded “the most prolific trial-consulting firms of all time.” McGraw hosts daytime TV’s most-watched daily talk show, “Dr. Now in its third season on CBS, “Bull” is inspired by the early career of Dr. Nunnelly in the three “Bull” episodes in which she did appear, declined to comment on the Times report. After reflecting on this further, I better understand that what I said was both not funny and not appropriate and I am sorry and regret the pain this caused Eliza.”ĭushku, who played criminal defense attorney J.P. Dushku would have received for the balance of her contract as a series regular, and was determined in a mutually agreed upon mediation process at the time.”įor his part, Weatherly told the Times, “During the course of taping our show, I made some jokes mocking some lines in the script.” He added, “When Eliza told me that she wasn’t comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized. Dushku’s claims are an example that, while we remain committed to a culture defined by a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace, our work is far from done.” It further stated, “The settlement of these claims reflects the projected amount that Ms. In a statement, CBS said, “The allegations in Ms.
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