Megyn Kelly offered some daunting advice to women thinking about reporting sexual harassment in the workplace.
“Even if HR is a real option, it doesn’t always go your way,” Kelly told Seth Meyers Wednesday on his “Late Night” show.
“If you take a shot at the king you better kill him, you’ve heard that saying,” she said. “If you don’t win this showdown, you know what’s going to happen to you.”
While workplace retaliation is illegal, Kelly told Meyers it can often take the form of more subtle consequences that would be difficult to prove.
In her interview, Kelly also picked up on a familiar theme often cited by harassment accusers — the ineffectiveness of human resources departments in general to deal with the issue.
“I hate when people ask, ‘Did you report it, did you report it? Why didn’t you report it?’” she said.
“The first question you need to ask is, ‘Was there a safe avenue for reporting’ and only if the answer to that question is yes do you get to ask that next question,” said Kelly.
“Let me tell you, the answer to that question at my workplace was no for years,” she continued. “HR was controlled by the CEO who was harassing half of the women in the building. It was not a meaningful outlet.”