- NRL commentator pleads guilty to shocking incident
- Has launched legal action against News Corp.
- The episode cost him his job at the newspaper and television.
Former NRL 360 and News Corp rugby league journalist Paul Kent could be set to take legal action against his former employer.
Kent, 54, was fired on May 30 while in court on charges of affray following a drunken street fight on April 27. He was later found guilty and given a good-behavior bond.
The veteran rugby league journalist was also suspended by News Corp for seven months in 2023 while facing domestic violence charges, charges which were later dismissed.
He The Sydney Morning Herald The agency reported that according to Fair Work Commission documents, Kent had called her dismissal by the media giant a “farce” and believed she had not been given a fair chance to report her side of the story.
The documents also reportedly state that Kent was unhappy about not being granted the presumption of innocence during domestic violence court hearings and lost seven months of income.
SMH reported that the documents state that Kent could sue his former employer in Federal Court for damages for the two periods during which he was suspended and ultimately dismissed.
Kent will reportedly argue that Nationwide News, a News Corp subsidiary, acted arbitrarily and unreasonably during the process leading to his dismissal.
High-profile former football commentator Paul Kent (pictured outside court last month) is taking legal action after being sacked.
Although Kent was fired for his role in this street fight, he is reportedly seeking damages for being fired on separate domestic violence charges of which he was found not guilty.
Kent, 54, was sentenced to a good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to his role in a wild street fight near Totti’s Rozelle in Sydney’s inner west on April 27.
Footage of the altercation allegedly captured Kent calling Sydney man Tamer Uzun a “dog head” and charging towards him as bystanders tried to intervene.
The confrontation spilled over to the other side of the street when Kent appeared to try to punch Uzun before being thrown against a tree and landing headfirst into the ditch.
Sydney Local Court Judge Downing Centre Jennifer Price has rejected the former Fox Sports and News Corp Australia columnist’s application to have his affray allegation dealt with under the Mental Health Act.
Ms Price took into account that Kent was suffering from major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder at the time.
An incident was filmed in which Kent was involved in an altercation outside a Sydney bar earlier this year.
Kent has been sacked from his role on Fox Sports’ NRL 360 programme and News Corp’s publication The Daily Telegraph.
According to Fair Work Commission documents, Kent’s unfair dismissal claim will be heard next week.
“The decision to summarily dismiss (Kent) for gross misconduct speaks to a process that was rushed, lacked a proper operational basis” and was “specifically calculated to remove (Kent) from (News Corp’s) business,” his application said.
SMH has reported that News Corp denies Kent’s claims in its response to the Fair Work Commission.
The media giant will reportedly argue that it rightly fired Kent for “conduct justifying instant dismissal” under the journalists’ business agreement..
Australia’s industrial relations director general, Andrew Biocca, has described the incidents that occurred in the public brawl in April, which attracted huge media attention and police charges.
News Corp reportedly described Kent’s conduct that night as “particularly serious in its character and reputational consequences” given his profile and the wide coverage of the fight.
He disputed Kent’s claim that he was dismissed because he was absent from work as a result of illness or injury, saying it lacked any reasonable basis.
News Corp denied that any abuse suffered by Kent was caused by its actions.
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