Jackie O accused of using bullying claim as tactic to escape multimillion-dollar deal

Radio royalty Jackie O Henderson’s legal complaints about ex co-star Kyle Sandilands were allegedly a smokescreen for her wanting to get out of her contract and get a different radio slot, ARN has claimed in court documents.

ARN has claimed Jackie O’s claims are not being made in “good faith” and her complaint of workplace rights being breached was made because she wanted to work on a different show and get out of her multimillion-dollar deal working with Sandilands.

Henderson has claimed she was unlawfully dismissed from her multimillion-dollar role on KIIS FM.

According to the defence of CBC, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation which is a subsidiary of ARN, they say Henderson’s bullying claim was not made in line with workplace law.

“Ms Henderson and Henderson Media reserved their right to make a report to SafeWork NSW was not done in good faith and for a proper purpose”, ARN said in documents made public on Thursday by the Federal Court.

It added: “The purpose of stating that Ms Henderson had the ability to initiate a claim for relief to address bullying in the workplace under the Act was to seek to force CBC not to hold Ms Henderson and Henderson Media to the services that they were contractually bound to provide … and instead to provide Ms Henderson and Henderson Media with an alternative daypart which CBC was not contractually obliged to provide.”

ARN said Henderson could have made a bullying complaint but may have had to continue working with Sandilands while that process took place.

The media company suggests this did not take place because Henderson wanted another timeslot.

“Ms Henderson had already ‘resolved’ to perform on another show at a different time of the day,” ARN writes, citing an affidavit from Henderson’s manager Gemma O’Neill.

During their blow up in February, Sandilands claimed Henderson was “off with the fairies” as he commented on her “fixation” with astrology.

“You’re off with the fairies, you’re unfocused, you don’t give a s***,” Mr Sandilands said in the segment.

Sandilands settled with ARN in June, and will receive $12.09m in the next three years, it was revealed in an announcement posted to the ASX.

The statement also revealed ARN and Sandilands would enter a revenue sharing agreement in which the company will provide him with $1.5m worth of advertising for three years.