Mel Greig, the Australian DJ behind Kate Middleton prank call linked to the death of UK nurse Jacintha Saldanha, has sued her employer, saying it failed to provide a safe workplace, local media say.
Mel Greig’s lawyer said a complaint against Southern Cross Austereo had been lodged with Fair Work Australia.
She and her co-host Michael Christian made a prank call to the London hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness last year.
The nurse who answered the phone call was later found dead.
Mel Greig remains off air in the wake of the incident, but co-host Michael Christian returned to work two months later.
“I can confirm that a general protections application has been filed with Fair Work Australia on behalf of Mel Greig against Southern Cross Austereo alleging the radio station failed to maintain a safe workplace,” Mel Greig’s lawyer, Steven Lewis, told local media in Australia.
“The matter will proceed to confidential conciliation under the Fair Work Act.”
No further details of the complaint were available.
Fair Work Australia, the national workplace relations tribunal, said it would try a conciliation conference for the two parties, local media report.
If the issue cannot be resolved, Mel Grieg will have to seek legal recourse in a federal court.
Her employer has yet to issue a comment on the matter.
Nurse Jacintha Saldanha put the Australian DJs through to another nurse at the King Edward VII’s Hospital in Marylebone, who gave an update on the duchess’s condition – an incident that drew widespread media coverage in the UK.
Jacintha Saldanha believed the DJs were the Queen and Prince Charles.
The 46-year-old wife and mother-of-two was found hanged three days later. An inquest into her death has yet to be held.
In February, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Michael Christian and Mel Greig with manslaughter over Jacintha Saldanha’s death.
Mel Greig is expected to appear at the inquest into Jacintha Saldanha’s death, expected later this year.
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