Robert De Niro's firm is required to compensate his former aide $1.2 million

 Robert De Niro's firm is required to compensate his former aide $1.2 million

A former worker filed a $1.2 million (£982,000) lawsuit against Robert De Niro's firm alleging discrimination and retaliation based on her gender.

Following her departure from Canal Productions, the actress and Graham Chase Robinson engaged in a protracted court struggle that ended with the jury's ruling, lasting many years.

Suing for $12 million, Ms. Robinson claimed she was mistreated, humiliated, underpaid, and handled like De Niro's "office wife".

However, in the civil trial, the jury did not find the actor personally accountable.

For eleven years, Ms. Robinson was employed by De Niro. She began working for the firm in 2008 as his personal assistant and was eventually elevated to vice-president of production and finance.

However, she filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging "emotional distress and reputational harm" after her resignation. She said he often gave her "stereotypically female" jobs and made "vulgar, inappropriate, and gendered comments".

While acknowledging that he sometimes lost his anger, he maintained that he was never abusive and refuted Ms. Robinson's claims.

'Bullying and discrimination' was the reason for De Niro's lawsuit.

Alleging she had embezzled business property, misused office money, and transferred over $450,000 in airline miles to her own account, Canal filed a $6 million countersue.

However, the jury did not hold Ms. Robinson accountable for any of Canal's allegations of financial malfeasance after eight days of testimony and five hours of discussion over the competing accusations.

On Thursday, when the decision was announced in court, De Niro was not there.

According to the Associated Press, Ms. Robinson was spotted grinning as the verdict was announced and embracing her attorneys after the jury adjourned.

The BBC was informed by her attorney that he was "delighted that the jury saw what we saw".

"Not only did Ms Robinson survive her case against Canal but the jury thoroughly vindicated Ms. Robinson by finding De Niro's assertions against her to be of merit," David Sanford said in his statement.

During his two days on the witness stand, De Niro acknowledged that he had sometimes chastised her and been agitated in her company, but he maintained that he "was never abusive, ever".

However, he stared straight at her and yelled "shame on you" across the courtroom in a dramatic outburst.

Angry in court about charges made by his former aide, De Niro

De Niro also acknowledged that he had requested her to scratch his back at least twice, but he waved off a query about it with the comment, "Okay, twice? I got you!"

He said that despite the fact that her duties remained essentially the same, he had increased her income and title because of her increasing requests to stay in the position.

During her turn to testify, Ms Robinson said that De Niro had raged at her and demanded that she be accessible by phone at all times, even on trips.

She said that she had experienced anxiety and sadness and that she had resigned due to a "emotional and mental breakdown" that left her feeling as if she had reached "rock bottom".

"I don't have a social life," the woman said. "My life was lost. I lost my job. I lost my financial autonomy. I had total loss."