Former “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” staffers have filed employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints against Sony Pictures Entertainment after the Culver City-based company allegedly laid off workers who spoke out against toxic working conditions . Shelley Ballance Ellis, a former production executive on the game shows , and Monique Diaz, a former member of the series’ clearance and licensing department, each filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department on Thursday. They previously filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over similar issues.
Sony Pictures denied that any of its decisions were retaliatory, attributing the layoffs to a broader reorganization. “Sony Pictures Entertainment takes all allegations of discrimination very seriously,” the studio said in a statement. “Earlier this year there was a broad reorganization of our game show group that resulted in the elimination of several roles to address redundancies and evolving business needs of a 40+-year-old operation.
Those eliminations were business efficiency decisions and not retaliatory.” Ballance Ellis identifies herself in her complaint as the highest ranking Black production executive at “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” as well as the head of the shows’ clearance and licensing department for 26 years. She has accused Sony of terminating her and “every diverse person” on her team because they repeated.