Shakir was “shunned and discriminated against,” when she returned to the U.S., according to the lawsuit. In March, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Vice had missed its revenue target by more than $100 million, Smith stepped down as chief executive, taking the role of executive chairman, which he said would focus on “content and deals." Former A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc replaced Smith. The company also got rid of its “Non-Traditional Workplace Agreement,” a document that new hires were required to sign, agreeing they would not find Vice’s workplace environment “offensive, indecent, violent or disturbing,” which some argued discouraged the reporting of harassment. They also announced sweeping company-wide changes including opening an investigation that resulted in the termination of several male employees and “discipline” of an unknown number of others and the forming of a Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board, an all-women working group that includes the feminist writer and one-time Vice contributor Gloria Steinem and hiring a new chief human resources officer after the previous director, Nancy Ashbrooke - who worked for almost a decade at Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax Films - had been named in several aggrieved women’s stories. In reaction to the New York Times investigation, which uncovered four settlements to female employees for sexual harassment and defamation, Smith and Vice’s other co-founder, Suroosh Alvi, released a statement in which they acknowledged, “from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive.” NBC News was unable to reach Vice for comment on the lawsuit. Shakir and her California attorney, Alyssa Schabloski, declined to comment on the lawsuit. shaken and fearful that speaking about the incident or asking the company for assistance in dealing with the trauma would threaten her job. Those employees - two of whom were present during the assault in Algiers - said Shakir returned to the U.S. NBC News, which had been independently investigating the Algiers incident when the lawsuit was filed, interviewed seven former Vice employees who worked with Shakir in 2016. In the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages for seven distinct claims including wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and defamation, Shakir alleges her superiors at Vice World of Sports and the company’s head of human resources blamed the attack on her and ultimately forced her out of her job. Vice’s response to that incident is at the center of a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
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