newjerseynewsroom.com

Marketing contractor moved to New Jersey for a job

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Jodie Fisher, the actress turned marketing contractor at the center of the Mark Hurd resignation, filed sexual harassment charges against the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive after she lost work because she did not have sex with him, according to a report.

It was the first time the nature of Fisher's claim has been reported, since HP had previously only said that Hurd was accused of sexual harassment without giving any details.

Fisher, 50 and now working in New Jersey as a branch manager in Swedesboro, helped HP organize networking events for customers and introduced executives to each other. She and Hurd would often dine together after the events.

According to the New York Post, on Aug. 6, when Hurd surprisingly announced he was leaving the tech giant, H-P said the CEO was found not to have violated the company's sexual harassment policy.

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But the report last night, by Reuters, citing a source with knowledge of the matter, said Fisher's letter to the H-P board alleged that she had lost work from the company because she did not have sex with Hurd. When Fisher's sexual harassment allegation was made and Hurd was found not to have violated H-P's policy on the matter, he and the board disagreed over whether to disclose the matter, Reuters reported, citing the source.

As soon as the board decided it had to disclose the claim, Hurd and H-P "moved to separate," this person said.

But the Associated Press reports that HP said it did find falsified expense reports connected to those meetings, and said those led to the board's unanimous decision to seek Hurd's resignation. Hurd says he didn't prepare his own expenses and that Fisher's name was not intentionally left off any reports.

Hurd was given a severance package that could top $40 million. He settled with Fisher for an undisclosed amount before his resignation.

A report on Msnbc.com says that HP had urged Hurd for weeks to settle the case, and Hurd eventually agreed because his lawyers convinced him it would be cheaper than taking the case to trial, according to the person close to the investigation

Hurd claims he still doesn't have an accounting for all the expenses he is alleged to have falsified. HP sources have said Hurd's expense account inaccuracies came to as much as $20,000.

Hurd has received job overtures from private equity firms and publicly traded companies almost immediately after his departure from HP, the source told Reuters.

Shares of HP have fallen 12 percent since Hurd's shocking resignation. Hurd has not given any hints on his plans. But the source said he was gone from HP for barely 24 hours before he started receiving expressions of interest from prospective employers.