Fox News employee sues over workplace bedbug bites

Jane Clark, a satellite feed coordinator, says in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that she picked up the bugs in the mid-Manhattan tower that houses the New York Post and the Fox News Channel.

Clark, 37, says the critter encounter last year left her unable to work and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She said an investigation revealed that another employee was bringing the bugs to work from his home, but that person no longer works at Fox.

The lawsuit asks unspecified damages from the building's owner, a management company and two maintenance companies. The Fox News Channel and its parent News Corp. were not named as defendants.

Clark's lawyer, Alan Schnurman, said he has filed lawsuits over bedbug infestations in hotels, cruise ships, and apartment buildings, but said this was "the first we know about in the work environment."

Ashley McCown, spokeswoman for building owners and managers Beacon Capital Partners LLC, 1211 6th Avenue Property Owner LLC, and Cushman & Wakefield, said they learned bedbugs were in an area of the Fox newsroom.

"We have been informed that the bedbugs have been exterminated," McCown said. "We have no indication they spread outside a limited area within the newsroom. Nonetheless, as a prudent step, we are bringing in outside, independent experts to review the situation."

Defendants Triangle Maintenance Service Inc. and American Quality Cleaning Corp. did not immediately return calls for comment.

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