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Netflix’s former Senior manager of Risk Management is taking the streamer to court on a plethora of claims from sexual harassment to discrimination to retaliatory termination and now shuttered Covid vaccine mandates.
“Combs alleges that the real reason for her termination was retaliation for her outspokenness and multiple complaints regarding the oppressive sexually driven ‘curiosity’ culture of Netflix,” alleges the 10-claims complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court today by Jessica Combs. “Her willingness to speak up marked her as an employee not acting in the best interest of Netflix; an employee that was not a good team player nor a great fit,” the jury trial seeking document adds of Combs, who was at the streamer from May 2017 to December 2021.
Citing the “lack of care” by Netflix HR over herself and a fellow female employee being “emotionally scarred” from incident that Combs says was “a direct result of the culture of sexuality promoted” by the Reed Hastings co-founded streamer, the 28-page filing is seeking a variety of unspecified damages for the now Nashville, Tennessee-based ex-executive. Scorning “drag queen dancing sexually” in the main Netflix LA HQ cafeteria during PRIDE month, and the apparent routineness of “drinking alcohol while working” at the company, the complaint adds: Combs alleges that this sexually oriented culture at Netflix caters to male predators.”
For all that, and clearly that’s a lot, those allegations are not actually the core of Combs’ complaint.
The by-product of Covid-19 is what Combs sought and received a Right to Sue notice from the California Civil Rights department back in August 2023. With less than a week before that right against Netflix expires, the former Warner Bros staffer had to make the leap to reopen this wound of allegedly rejected religious dispensation and severance conditions.
On or about October of 2021, COMBS requested that Netflix allow her to submit negative COVID-19 test results, as needed, since her religious opt-out request was denied. Netflix would not allow COMBS to present negative test results in lieu of vaccinations.
It was also on or about October 0f 2021. That Combs, in an effort to comply with Netflix’ unwarranted vaccine impositions, while defending her religious and moral convictions, requested that Netflix allow her to change her official office location from Los Angeles to London, where she was already conducting significant work for Netflix. That request was denied, as well.
On or about November of 2021, COMBS emailed Netflix executives challenging the vaccine mandate, as well as the company’s discriminatory practices surrounding diversity and inclusion, COMBS never received a response to that email.
On or about November of 2021, Netflix advised COMBS that, since she had moved to Tennessee (with prior Netflix approval), and was working from home, she did not merit a salary increase for “location-based pay.” But peculiarly, if COMBS had remained in Los Angeles (as a remote employee during COVID), her salary incredibly would have increased by 20% prior to COMBS receiving this notice.
On November 15, 2021, Netflix’s HR department sent COMBS a termination letter. The Notice of Termination said the reason for COMBS’ termination was her breaking of a “reasonable employer rule,” i.e., the failure to obtain COVID vaccinations. Notable, courts have subsequently held that such impositions were not lawful. The stated reason for COMBS’ termination was pretextual.
The termination letter offered Jessica four months of severance pay if she would release Netflix from any claims. COMBS refused to sign the agreement. Notably, by November of 2021, COMBS had been performing director level work for over three years – since 2018 – because the team had no acting director. COMBS became the Risk Management leader and the most senior-level team member during the pandemic. But Netflix never paid COMBS for her “director level” work. COMBS alleges and believes that, upon termination, Directors receive six months of severance, not four months. This is yet another indication of Netflix’ intentional and malicious acts in an effort to wrongfully terminate COMBS by offering her unacceptable terms on her severance package.
The filing by Rancho Santa Margarita-based attorney Michael C.P. Clark goes on to slam the streamer as demanding conformity seemingly over all else but profit.
“Netflix denied COMBS’ application for unemployment benefits since she would not sign the severance package agreement,” the complaint declares. “COMBS alleges that this act of denying her unemployment benefits further demonstrates the intentional and malicious nature of Netflix when dealing with employees who dare to challenge the sacred, albeit inappropriate, core values of Netflix, notwithstanding her loyal, devoted, and exemplary years of service as indicated by the repeated praise in her annual reviews, her promotions, and pay increases. COMBS performed her duties competently and met or exceeded Netflix’ legitimate expectations throughout her tenure at Netflix.”
Netflix had no comment on Combs’ suit when contacted by Deadline today. If that changes, this post will be updated. Lawyer Clark did not respond to request for comment when reached out to by Deadline. If and when he does respond, this post will be updated.
For the record, as political and medical tides shifted, Netflix quietly dropped its vaccine mandate in September 2022. Disney followed soon afterwards in November 2022 with the rest of the studios and the Hollywood guilds ending the mandates completely in early 2023. There have been dozens of vaccine mandate lawsuits in the ensuing months, most of which are still before the courts.
