Beasley Media Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK Philadelphia morning host John DeBella has reached a settlement with former co-host Jennifer ‘Jen Posner’ Neill over her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment.
Neill sued DeBella, Beasley, and iHeartMedia’s TTWN Media in February stating she was subjected to conduct including DeBella coming up behind her at the printer and pressing up against her so that his genitals were pushing into her backside (with the then Greater Media Human Resources Director throwing up her hands and stating “I don’t see anything”), grabbing her breast on more than one occasion, demanding blow jobs from her on multiple occasions, and repeated sexist comments. Neill filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in September 2016 after which she was asked to return to work or take a leave of absence while an independent investigation was conducted. After one show with DiBella after which she broke down she took leave. Six weeks later they said they concluded their investigation without telling her of any disciplinary actions taken against DiBella and told her she could return to the WMGK morning show or resign. She was then demoted by TTWN to a traffic reporter and she submitted her complete resignation as of 1/6/2017.
The Cherry Hill Courier-Post reports that the case was dismissed on Friday with prejudice following a settlement between the parties. No terms were publicly disclosed.
Original Report 2/19: Longtime Philadelphia morning host John DeBella is being sued by former co-host Jennifer Neill for repeated sexual harassment during her time working with him at Beasley Media Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK Philadelphia.
Beasley Media and iHeartMedia and its TTWN Media subsidiary are named as co-defendants in the suit by Neill, who used her maiden name of Jen Posner on-air. Neill was an employee of TTWN Media as a traffic reporter from 2000 to 2017. She started reporting traffic for DeBella’s show when he joined WMGK in 2002 and was promoted to co-host in 2010 where her TTWN employment was subcontracted to then WMGK owner Greater Media.
In her argument, Neill states she was subjected to conduct including DeBella coming up behind her at the printer and pressing up against her so that his genitals were pushing into her backside (with the then Greater Media Human Resources Director throwing up her hands and stating “I don’t see anything”), grabbing her breast on more than one occasion, demanding blow jobs from her on multiple occasions, and repeated sexist comments. Neill filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in September 2016 after which she was asked to return to work or take a leave of absence while an independent investigation was conducted. After one show with DiBella after which she broke down she took leave. Six weeks later they said they concluded their investigation without telling her of any disciplinary actions taken against DiBella and told her she could return to the WMGK morning show or resign. She was then demoted by TTWN to a traffic reporter and she submitted her complete resignation as of 1/6/2017.
DeBella has been heard on Philadelphia radio nearly continuously since 1983. He joined 93.3 WMMR for mornings and stayed there until 1994 when he jumped to afternoons at 94.1 WYSP. After leaving WYSP in June 2001 he joined WMGK for mornings in March 2002 where he has been since.
The full lawsuit filing can be read here.
