New York Post

THE OL’ BOYS NETWORK

- By JULIA MARSH jmarsh@nypost.com

It’s another black eye for Black Rock.

A week after CBS host Charlie Rose was outed as an alleged serial sex harasser, one of the network’s former producers claims she was told by a boss that she would have to sleep with co-workers to get anywhere in the company.

“I was in a state of shock,” said Erin Gee, 44, who worked for CBS for 17 years and recently filed a Manhattan federal suit alleging rampant sex discrimina­tion at the network.

Gee (above) claims that in 2011, she was talking to her boss at “CBS Evening News,” Robert Klug, about a workplace dispute when he said “she should ‘have sex’ with [the] video editor who had been difficult to work with to ‘break the ice,’ ” according to court papers.

“I couldn’t believe that was his advice,” Gee recalled. “I was looking for help, and he looked at me like, ‘You don’t matter, and this is what you should do to make this guy like you.’ ”

Gee reported the incident to a senior producer, “who told her at the time that he let the executive producer know about it,’’ said her lawyer, Kevin Mintzer. “But nothing was done.’’

Klug, 58, was later promoted to executive director for CBS News. Shortly after, another boss informed Gee that Klug “had asked him whether he had had sex with her or the other women under his supervisio­n,” the suit says.

Fed up, Gee filed a formal complaint with CBS in 2015, again reporting Klug’s comments, as well as other instances of alleged sexism.

“All I wanted was the same opportunit­ies that were being given to the men. In my nearly 20 years at CBS, I never saw a female director direct the evening news,” she said.

But after she filed the complaint, Gee was demoted to the weekend newscast, according to court papers.

She was told she was being discipline­d for “behavioral problems,” but Gee says was never alerted to any issues.

She eventually quit and took another job in the industry.

“My situation demonstrat­es why women are afraid to speak up,’’ she said. “When they do, they’re often punished for it.”

The federal Equal Employment Opportunit­y Commission dismissed Gee’s discrimina­tion claim in March, saying it was “unable to conclude that the informatio­n obtained establishe­s a violation of the statutes.” Still, the EEOC issued a right to sue, permitting her to file a suit.

Gee is seeking unspecifie­d damages in her suit.

CBS called Gee’s allegation­s, including those against Klug, “wholly without merit.”

“Ms. Gee was treated in a nondiscrim­inatory and nonretalia­tory manner,” a network spokeswoma­n said.

Klug did not return calls seeking comment.

Gee’s allegation­s come days after a slew of women accused Rose, a host of “CBS This Morning” and PBS’s long-running “Charlie Rose” talk show, of sexual harassment.

CBS and PBS dropped Rose, with CBS News President David Rhodes condemning the veteran journo’s “intolerabl­e behavior” in a memo to staff.

“There is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organizati­on, than ensuring a safe, profession­al workplace,’’ the memo read.

Rose has apologized for “inappropri­ate behavior.”

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