{"id":559861,"date":"2026-03-23T22:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559861\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:38:14","slug":"the-kyle-and-jackie-o-show-axed-prematurely-by-arn-media-employment-lawyer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559861\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kyle and Jackie O Show axed ‘prematurely’ by ARN Media, employment lawyer says"},"content":{"rendered":"

An employment lawyer says ARN Media may have “prematurely” cancelled The Kyle and Jackie O Show for “opportunistic” reasons.<\/p>\n

The network terminated Kyle Sandilands’s $100 million contract with radio station KIIS FM last week after giving him 14 days to remedy “an act of serious misconduct” in breach of his terms of employment.<\/a><\/p>\n

It followed a seven-minute on-air argument between him and co-host Jackie “O” Henderson on February 20, during which he stated she was “off with the fairies” and her fixation with horoscopes made her “almost unworkable”.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday to the ASX, ARN Media confirmed Sandilands had launched legal action against the network<\/a> through the Federal Court, with his team claiming the termination of the contract was invalid and “unconscionable under the Australian Consumer Law”.<\/p>\n

The statement read he is seeking “payment of whatever amounts are due and payable under the contracts at the time of judgement, and damages”.<\/p>\n

ARN Media has disputed the claims and intends to defend the proceedings.<\/p>\n

Sandilands has maintained he did not breach his contract and said he apologised to Henderson hours after.<\/p>\n

We have not yet heard whether Henderson will also launch legal action, after ARN Media announced on March 3 she had “given notice she cannot continue to work with Mr Sandilands”, and that the network had terminated her $100 million contract.<\/p>\n

Henderson has denied ever resigning or quitting.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sandilands and Henderson are considering their options. (Facebook: The Kyle and Jackie O Show)<\/p>\n

Sydney employment lawyer and partner at Hall and Wilcox, Fay Calderone, said Sandilands had “clearly stepped over the line and in effect berated Jackie”.<\/p>\n

“I think in that context, it’s fair to say that there was a psychosocial hazard created,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think the fact that had this occurred in a boardroom or in a sales meeting or on a factory floor, we wouldn’t even be questioning whether it was a safety issue.”<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone said ARN Media “took the right action” in “standing him down” as it had an obligation to provide a safe workplace, but may have jumped the gun in cancelling the program.<\/p>\n

“I do think that the cancellation of the show seems premature on all fronts,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to be critical, but I do worry whether it was opportunistic because it just happened all too quickly in the context of something that was not completely unusual for this workplace and relationship.”<\/p>\n

The duo had been expected to remain on air until at least 2034, as per their 10-year contracts.<\/p>\n

Why terminate Sandilands now?\"Kyle<\/p>\n

Kyle Sandilands says he did not breach his contract. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone said not much was known about the $100 million contracts Sandilands and Henderson signed in 2023, but they were considered contractors, and not employees, covered by workplace health and safety policies.<\/p>\n

“The unfair dismissal laws don’t apply and the Fair Work Act sort of principles around those don’t apply,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone said if health and safety obligations were included in Sandilands’s contract, the network would need to prove he “breached his obligations” and the company’s “lawful and reasonable” policies.<\/p>\n

\"Ms<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone thinks the cancellation of The Kyle and Jackie O Show was potentially “opportunistic”. (Supplied: Fay Calderone\/Jade)<\/p>\n

But, she questioned why the network decided to terminate his contract now when he has acted in similar ways in the past.<\/p>\n

The pair have often made headlines for their arguments and walk-outs.<\/p>\n

“It is interesting that it is being pulled up at a time where perhaps it’s not so lucrative for the network,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So, you know, cynically, I’d say it was opportunistic.”Sandilands insists he is ‘not in breach’ of $100m contract<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Sandilands has argued he is not in breach of his $100 million contract with ARN Media after being taken off air for “an act of serious misconduct” on his and Jackie “O” Henderson’s hit radio show.<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone said when workplace behaviour had been “tolerated or excused or, dare I say, even commercialised”, it could become “harder to draw the line” \u2014 an issue if legal action was to be taken.<\/p>\n

“The question is, was it a serious safety issue in the context of the relationship, the program, the history, the previous incidents?” she said.<\/p>\n

Australian Consumer Law will also play a role in Sandilands’s case, Ms Calderone said, as his lawyers mentioned an “unconscionable conduct” claim.<\/p>\n

“That obviously ups-the-ante for ARN because they are penalty provisions and it’s an extra layer of claim and he’s seeking specific performance of the contract which I think complicates the situation a bit more,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But I do wonder if it’s a leverage play.”<\/p>\n

Henderson’s termination ‘peculiar’\"Jackie<\/p>\n

Henderson says she did not resign. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Calderone said in Henderson’s case, there are general protection provisions in the Fair Work Act that do apply if she were to pursue legal action.<\/p>\n

“She’s someone that made a complaint, as I understand it, in relation to her work health and safety, which means she asserted a workplace right,” Ms Calderone said.<\/p>\n

“[The] principle is you cannot lawfully take action or adverse action against a contractor because they have asserted a workplace right \u2026 I think that’s peculiar.”<\/p>\n

The employment lawyer said if Henderson’s contract was terminated because of this, it could be problematic for the network.<\/p>\n

“I did see some reports that they had offered her an alternate show, which I think she later denied, to the extent that that’s an attempt to mitigate any loss or damage and reduce the risk of a claim, perhaps,” she said.<\/p>\n

Legal action could be lengthy\"Jackie<\/p>\n

Sandilands and Henderson made headlines while at KIIS FM for their arguments. (AAP Image\/Tracey Nearmy)<\/p>\n

Partner at Axe Legal, Stefan Stojkovic, said if Sandilands or Henderson were wrongfully terminated, they could sue for damages.<\/p>\n

If they did, the court would take into consideration the length of their contracts, what they would have earned, and any mitigation provisions.<\/p>\n

“They’re not going to get $100 million and then work under a new contract for $100 million, if that makes sense,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Stojkovic said any prospective legal action could take “two to three years” to resolve if there were no appeals.<\/p>\n

“If both parties make a claim and the legal issues are overlapping and the facts are overlapping, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both heard at the same time by the same judge,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Otherwise, we’d be wasting a lot of court resources.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they settle it out of court as well, if there’s a sensible settlement available to the parties.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An employment lawyer says ARN Media may have “prematurely” cancelled The Kyle and Jackie O Show for “opportunistic”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[108673,194165,258346,2001,64,63,74247,276298,27949,3895,276294,29791,134,58725,276293,257948,128671,222689,257698,53493,9959,25494,82466,271137,109551,276299,276302,276300,276291,1195,25798,17823,276301,670,276290,276292,276297,276296,276295,79761,145713],"class_list":["post-559861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-100-million","tag-argument","tag-arn-media","tag-asx","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-consumer-law","tag-breach-of-contract","tag-complaint","tag-contract","tag-does-kyle-sandilands-have-a-leg-to-stand-on","tag-employment-law","tag-entertainment","tag-fair-work-act","tag-fay-calderone","tag-jackie-henderson","tag-jackie-o","tag-kiis-fm","tag-kyle-and-jackie-o-show","tag-kyle-sandilands","tag-law","tag-laws","tag-legal-action","tag-off-with-the-fairies","tag-on-air","tag-opportunistic","tag-peculiar","tag-premature","tag-psychosocial","tag-radio","tag-rights","tag-sacked","tag-stefan-stojkovic","tag-sydney","tag-terminated-contracts","tag-tolerance","tag-why-were-kyle-and-jackie-o-sacked","tag-will-jackie-o-go-to-court","tag-will-kyle-sandilands-go-to-court","tag-workplace-health-and-safety","tag-workplace-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}