Fired ‘Shrinking’ Crew Member Accuses Warner Bros TV Of Doing Nothing Over Sexual Harassment By EP, Being Scapegoated After Complaining

(Updated with WBTV statement) Despite 10 nominations, Shrinking came up short at the Emmys on Monday, but the Warner Bros Television-produced show may be taking center stage in court soon.

A longtime Key Second Assistant Director on the Apple TV series starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford says she was abruptly fired in July after a long day of shooting by executive producer Kip Kroeger because of so-called “different needs of production.” In a seven-claim compliant filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against WBTV, Shrinking EP/director Randall Winston and others, Mindy Tessa McKoin doesn’t buy it.

As the document from attorney Avi Gholian says of the industry veteran’s multi-season Shrinking stint: “no performance deficiency, misconduct, or business rationale was identified then or anytime thereafter.”

Filing earlier today with the California Civil Rights Department before going to the LASC docket, McKoin alleges the real reason she was canned is because of reporting an intentional “sexual abuse” by Winston at the Shrinking Season 2 wrap party on June 22, 2024, as well as her raising a stink about “inaccurate time records and pay statements.” The Loot and Young Sheldon alum McKoin and her lawyers assert those problems resulted in zero “corrective action” by WBTV on the latter and her production bosses not making a “big deal” about the former.

McKoin says the CAA-repped Winston subjected her “to unwelcome, severe harassment because of her sex, including by grabbing and groping her breast without her consent at a work-related function in the presence of a coworker” at the 2024 party. “Such conduct was sufficiently severe to alter the conditions of Plaintiff employment and to create a hostile, intimidating, and offensive working environment,” reads the lawsuit.

According to the plaintiff, the environment was made all the worse by WBTV doing nothing about it.

WBTV say that’s not the case, at all.

“The safety and well-being of our cast and crew is the Studio’s highest priority,” a spokesperson told Deadline. “

The Studio takes all allegations of misconduct and retaliation seriously and has policies and procedures in place to prevent, investigate, and address such concerns,” the WBTV official added. “Once the allegations were raised, the Studio immediately engaged an independent third-party to conduct a thorough investigation, consistent and in accordance with those policies and procedures. Based on the completed investigation, the Studio concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated and unsupported by any corroborating evidence.”

While the sexual harassment and sexual battery claims sit on the top of McKoin’s allegations, it is the pay and timecard tampering of sorts that takes up the bulk of Tuesday’s filing that seeks unspecified damages.

In terms of retaliation, McKoin insists she made “bona fide complaints, both orally and in writing, that she was owed unpaid wages and that her time records had been unlawfully altered, and otherwise engaged in conduct protected by the Labor Code, including on or about May 26, May 28, June I0, June 11, June 19, and July I, 2026.” Her filing adds, “Warner Bros. discharged Plaintiff on July 10, 2026 – within 90 days of each of these instances of protected activities.“

“As a direct and proximate result of Warner Bros.’ violation of Labor Code … Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer lost wages and work benefits and other actual consequential, and incidental financial losses. as well as emotional distress. humiliation, mental anguish, and anxiety in an amount to be proven at trial.”

Representatives for Winston did not respond when Deadline reached out about the claims.