A former employee of Fox News on Monday accused former on-air host Ed Henry of a "violent, painful" 2017 rape, in a lawsuit that targeted the network and some of its top on-air personalities of pervasive sexual harassment and misconduct.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court under New York's Human Rights Law and federal sex-trafficking laws, came with a "trigger warning" that alerted readers to "highly graphic information of a sexual nature, including sexual assault."

Among the allegations detailed in the 39-page complaint, Jennifer Eckhart, who worked as an associate producer at Fox News, accused Henry of pressuring her into having sex and then later "forcefully" raping her while she was handcuffed in a Midtown hotel room. The alleged encounter left Eckhart "injured, bruised and battered with bloodied wrists," the filing said.

The complaint, which was filed by New York attorney Doug Wigdor on behalf of Eckhart and frequent Fox News guest Cathy Areu, also alleged that the network had "cultivated and fostered sexual harassment and misconduct," while even rewarding men accused of wrongdoing.

"Fox News continues to protect and reward perpetrators of sexual harassment and refuses to take accountability for putting such persons in positions of power from which they can subject women to sexual misconduct, sexual assault and, in the case of Ms. Eckhart, rape," it said. "Some of the names in leadership may have changed since Roger Ailes' regime, but Fox News' institutional apathy towards sexual misconduct has not."

The filing accused Fox News anchors Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz of making unwanted sexual advances toward the two women, but made no allegations of physical violence other than those levied against Henry.

Henry was fired from Fox News earlier this summer, following a third-party investigation by an outside law firm. Hannity, Carlson and Kurtz all remain with the network.

In a statement Monday evening, Henry's attorney, Catherine Foti, said that Eckhart had "initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship" with her client, and that he planned to clear his name in court.

"The Me Too movement has helped to bring to light a number of injustices in our society, and everyone that has suffered deserves to be heard," said Foti, a partner with Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello in Manhattan. "This is not one of those cases."

She added: "Ed Henry looks forward to presenting actual facts and evidence, which will contradict the fictional accounts contained in the complaint. That evidence includes graphic photos and other aggressively suggestive communications that Ms. Eckhart sent to Mr. Henry."

Fox News said in a statement that it had determined that all of Areu's claims against its other hosts were "false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit," and it planned to "defend vigorously against these baseless allegations."

As for Henry, the network said, the women could pursue their claims "directly with him, as Fox News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart's claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network."

The complaint included screenshots of texts between Eckhart and Henry that Eckhart said revealed his "apparent obsession" with violent sex practices. Eckhart said she never consented to the encounter and that Henry had taken the explicit photos in an attempt to intimidate and "silence" her.

According to the filing, Fox News learned about allegations of sexual misconduct against Henry as early as 2017 but did not terminate him until after the investigation was finished.

"This conduct on the part of Fox News is abhorrent, and, of course, only served to greatly increase the trauma that Ms. Eckhart is experiencing as a result," the complaint said.

Michael Willemin, a Wigdor attorney who signed Monday's complaint, accused Foti in a statement of invoking a "rape myth" that a victim of sexual violence would never send her attacker friendly or consensual-looking messages.

"The statement also seeks to slut-shame Ms. Eckhart and suggests that she was asking to be violently raped," Willemin said. "Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is precisely because of these types of attacks that many victims of sexual assault and rape suffer in silence."

Willemin and Wigdor also cast doubt on Fox News' characterization of the probe and called for the findings to be made publicly available.

"Moreover, the investigator did not even speak with either of our clients, even though both Ms. Eckhart and Ms. Areu offered to meet with him under reasonable conditions. We call on Fox News to work with our clients to retain a truly independent investigator who is transparent," the attorneys said.

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