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AMERICANALMANAC (Ken Jacobs) - CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman faces harassment allegations in wrongful-termination lawsuit by former ABC News producer Mon Aug 17 16:45:06 2026

A former ABC News field producer has filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit accusing CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman of sexualized workplace harassment, claims that land just months after Gutman's high-profile hire under CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Samira Said, who worked in ABC News's Los Angeles bureau from May 2021 until her termination on March 5, […] The post CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman faces harassment allegations in wrongful-termination lawsuit by former ABC News producer appeared first on American Almanac .

A former ABC News field producer has filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit accusing CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman of sexualized workplace harassment, claims that land just months after Gutman's high-profile hire under CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Samira Said, who worked in ABC News's Los Angeles bureau from May 2021 until her termination on March 5, 2025, filed the suit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The complaint names Gutman, ABC News, and The Walt Disney Co. as defendants, alleging a hostile work environment, harassment, denial of medical accommodations, and wrongful termination, The Hollywood Reporter reported . Neither Gutman's representative, ABC News, nor CBS News responded to requests for comment before publication. The silence leaves the allegations unanswered as the lawsuit moves forward in a California court. Two alleged incidents paint a pattern of sexualized remarks The lawsuit describes two separate workplace incidents involving Gutman during Said's roughly four-year tenure at ABC. In the first, the complaint alleges Gutman started a conversation rating a female correspondent's physical appearance and assigning her a numerical score while the team waited in a public queue during a work assignment. Male crew members joined in, the filing states, and the group tried to draw Said into the discussion. She declined and told them the conversation was inappropriate. The second incident allegedly occurred at a press event for a movie release. When Said and Gutman disagreed about whether to leave the assignment location, Gutman responded, in front of multiple coworkers, by suggesting Said must have an after-hours date in the city. The lawsuit calls the remark a "sexualized insinuation" that "demeaned Said and reduced her professional judgment to a sexualized stereotype." No dates for either incident appear in the complaint beyond their falling within Said's employment period. The name of the female correspondent allegedly rated by Gutman is not disclosed in the filing. Uvalde assignment, COVID-19, and a five-month medical leave Said's complaint also targets ABC News management directly. The lawsuit alleges the network placed Said on a "male-only team" and assigned her to interview child survivors of the 2022 Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, while she was still experiencing symptoms from COVID-19. Breitbart reported that the network allegedly sent Said to cover the shooting despite her illness, after which she "experienced severe psychological symptoms." Said received medical leave from August 2022 through January 2023, roughly five months. Her psychiatrist "continued to certify the medical necessity of her leave on a recurring basis" throughout that period, the complaint states. When the psychiatrist eventually cleared Said to return to work, the clearance came with a condition: she would need "reasonable accommodations designed to enable her to perform the essential functions of the position while protecting against re-exposure to trauma triggers." That is where the dispute between Said and ABC News management sharpened. David Herndon, the ABC News Los Angeles bureau chief named in the suit, allegedly told Said she would not be allowed to resume her role unless she came back "without restrictions and with full-week availability." The lawsuit does not specify what accommodations Said requested, but it alleges the network flatly refused them. Weekend desk shifts and an on-the-job injury preceded termination After her medical leave and accommodation requests, Said was reassigned to weekend desk shifts, a move the complaint frames as retaliation. The lawsuit states that Said "was subjected to materially adverse treatment than she had experienced at any time prior to engaging in protected activity." Then came a physical injury. In January 2025, while covering the Los Angeles wildfires, heavy equipment struck Said's foot, resulting in a bone contusion. She reported the injury to supervisors. A Disney physician evaluated her and determined she did not need to take leave. Less than two months later, on March 5, 2025, ABC News terminated Said. The complaint does not specify the reason ABC gave for the firing. Said is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with attorneys' fees. No specific dollar amount appears in the filing. Gutman's move to CBS puts Bari Weiss in an awkward position Gutman left ABC News after nearly two decades and joined CBS News on January 5 as the network's chief correspondent, a role that made him the first major on-air hire under Weiss's leadership. Weiss publicly championed the move at the time. Fox News noted that Weiss praised Gutman as someone who "goes there" and "approaches his work with the qualities we look for in all our journalists: fearlessness, energy and relentlessness." That endorsement now sits alongside a lawsuit alleging conduct that, if proven, would represent exactly the kind of workplace behavior major networks have spent years pledging to root out. CBS News offered no comment when contacted about the suit. Gutman's tenure at ABC was not without prior controversy. The New York Post reported that Gutman faced professional fallout during his 17 years at the network, including a reporting error related to the Kobe Bryant story. ABC News said at the time that "his initial reporting was not accurate and failed to meet our editorial standards." No answers from three defendants and one employer The lawsuit raises questions that remain open. What specific accommodations did Said request? Why did ABC terminate her less than two months after an on-the-job injury? And did anyone at CBS News know about the allegations against Gutman before hiring him as the face of the network's new era? None of the defendants, Gutman, ABC News, or Disney, have offered a public response. CBS News, which is not named as a defendant but employs the man at the center of the complaint, limited its response to two words: no comment. The allegations remain unproven in court. But the filing lays out a detailed account of a workplace where a female producer says she was objectified, denied medical support, sidelined, injured, and then shown the door. If even a fraction of it holds up, the institutions involved will have more to answer for than silence. Major networks spent the last decade lecturing the rest of the country about workplace culture and accountability. A lawsuit like this one is a fair time to ask whether they held themselves to the same standard. The post CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman faces harassment allegations in wrongful-termination lawsuit by former ABC News producer appeared first on American Almanac .