'Price is Right' Model Claims Sexual Harassment

Lanisha Cole, a former Price is Right model, filed a lawsuit this month claiming whe was wrongfully terminated and sexually harassed by the producers of the show. She isn't the first woman to have these complaints on this show.

In her lawsuit she claims that two of the producers exploited her via "power and control over women by bullying and harassing."

Ms. Cole worked on the show for 8 years until 2010. She claims one of the producers played favorites with a model he was dating and also made up rules that she hadn't known existed and berated her for violating them. One thing she was yelled at in front of the other models that she wasn't wearing a microphone when she should have.

While the show has yet to comment, a past full of complaints — including sexual harassment, racial discrimination, wrongful termination and emotional abuse and intimidation — against Price is Right producers and its longtime former host Bob Barker, depicts an institutionalized attitude that allowed executives to treat models on the show (and female staffers) as second-class citizens.

Although Bob Barker, the show's long time host, had claimed that he wanted to retire in 2007 "before he got old," rumors had begun to surface that he was being pushed out because of a threatened lawsuit of racial discrimination. A mere four months after Barker's final show, Deborah Curling, who had been a contestant screener on Price for 24 years, filed a suit against Barker and the producers. Curling claimed racial discrimination (she is black), sexual and mental harassment and abuse. Curling had also previously testified against Barker in a case brought by a female production assistant named Linda Riegart.

Regardless of whether this case goes forward or not and whether or not the facts are true, even in Hollywood sexual harassment can be a problem. Properly training employees and supervisors in not only smart business but it's also a requirement in California to comply with AB-1825.