An extraordinary audio recording has emerged which lifts the lid on the way the Seven Network treated a young woman who made a sexual harassment complaint against an older male colleague, only to be dismissed from work soon after.

Key points: Seven Network cadet journalist Amy Taeuber complained of sexual harassment by an older colleague

Seven Network cadet journalist Amy Taeuber complained of sexual harassment by an older colleague Ms Taeuber was then suspended soon after allegations she bullied a fellow cadet

Ms Taeuber was then suspended soon after allegations she bullied a fellow cadet Ms Taeuber recorded audio of the meeting where she was suspended

In a rare insight into human resources culture at the TV network, Amy Taeuber, who was a 27-year-old cadet journalist in Adelaide, was given no notice of allegations against her before being suspended, having her phone removed and being escorted from the building.

She was also denied a support person in the meeting where she was suspended.

Ms Taeuber made a complaint about the older male reporter alleging a series of incidents, including commenting on her appearance, making disparaging remarks about her marital status and calling her a lesbian.

Days after she complained it transpired that Seven was investigating Ms Taeuber, first for a satirical memes page about a Seven reality program run by her sister Kate, which Kate said Amy had no role in.

Then Ms Taeuber was blindsided when she was called into her news director's office and presented with a series of written allegations she'd never heard of before — essentially that she had bullied a fellow cadet, with whom she was still friends, and who had not made a complaint about her.

To protect her legal rights, during the meeting Ms Taeuber placed her phone on the table and pressed record.

Support person asked to leave

At the meeting Ms Taeuber was accompanied by a support person, Lesley Johns, but Ms Johns was instructed to leave the room immediately, something the media union says breaches workplace laws and the Seven Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.

"No, I'm afraid it's not appropriate for Lesley to be in the room at this point," a human resources manager said via speaker phone in the meeting.

"We're not having a meeting that needs a support person, so Lesley, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to depart."

Ms Johns can be heard sighing.

"OK. It's really disappointing. She's a cadet who is—" Ms Johns said, but was not able to finish her sentence.

"Lesley, if you want to talk to me about this matter, we can do it at another time, but it's not appropriate at this stage," the human resources manager said.

'This is disgusting, I've done nothing wrong'

The Channel Seven studios in Adelaide. ( ABC News )

The human resources manager then told Ms Taeuber she would be "relieved" of her phone and her Seven identity pass, that she was suspended from duty immediately and she was reminded "no touching the IT" — that is, she could not shut down her computer.

"I feel like this is humiliating me," a shocked Ms Taeuber said on the recording.

"For making a complaint in the first place, and it's really disgusting.

"This is disgusting. I've done nothing wrong.

"I've not done any of this and I'm requesting to have the statement of the person who made these allegations."

The human resources manager replied, "OK, so how do we want to plan your exit, Amy? I do understand that we don't want to make it humiliating for you."

When Ms Taeuber pushed the HR manager again for the statement of the person making the allegations about her, saying it is "quite fair" in order to answer these allegations, the HR manager told her to "put it in writing" and refused to engage with any further questions.

Ms Taeuber became tearful, telling her news director she felt "very victimised, to be honest".

"I've worked so hard to get this job and I know people are just trying to get rid of me now and it's just really upsetting," Ms Taeuber said.

"I don't really deserve any of this for standing up and having a problem with someone calling me a lesbian."

During her suspension, Ms Taeuber had no access to her phone or emails and other staff were banned from speaking to her.

Union says allegations should have been revealed earlier

Linda Taeuber says the treatment of her daughter Amy was "just horrific". ( ABC News )

"I was absolutely horrified with what had happened to Amy," her mother Linda Taeuber, told 7.30.

"As a family we were just distraught. She'd worked so hard to get that cadetship, she'd got a degree and then a Masters, she'd started at the bottom and worked her way up.

"And to have it taken away from her in the blink of an eye was just horrific."

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance spokeswoman Katelin McInerney said staff should be made aware of allegations against them before meetings of this nature.

"And certainly [they] should be provided at that time, with the opportunity to bring in a support person or contact [their] union for further advice.

"Certainly it does seem there have been breaches in this matter and that this cadet was not treated with the same rights that she is afforded under her enterprise agreement and under the Fair Work Act."

Alleged victim was Taeuber's friend

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In another extraordinary twist, it transpired that the person Seven alleged she had bullied was her friend, cadet Peter Fegan, and he had not made a complaint about her.

Instead, Seven had appeared to have gone through her emails and found some where she was talking about Mr Fegan. He told Ms Taeuber he knew nothing about it.

"Peter didn't even know that his name was on the document," Ms Taeuber's sister Kate told 7.30.

"I've overheard many conversations with Peter and Amy talking and he was angry about it. He didn't understand why he had been brought into it."

The group of Seven cadets were in the habit of playing pranks on one another, a practice Ms Taeuber documented on videos she uploaded to YouTube. In the videos, Ms Taeuber, other young women and Mr Fegan can all been seen good-naturedly ribbing each other.

Mr Fegan and Ms Taeuber have remained friends.

"He went straight to his news director and human resources and said, 'You know this is ridiculous. I don't understand why my name is being involved. I've never made any complaints about Amy, she's my friend. I want my name taken off it'," Kate Taeuber said.

"And [Seven] just said, Sorry, it's none of your business'.

"How could it not be someone's business, their name being named as the victim of bullying?"

Seven criticised for treatment of women

Amber Harrison, who had an affair with Seven CEO Tim Worner. ( ABC News: Gus Goswell )

Former Seven human resources staff told 7.30 that what happened to Ms Taeuber was part of a systemic culture at the network.

They said trawling through emails to construct a misleading case was something the former employees regularly did to get rid of staff and something they said they felt enormously guilty about.

The recording comes in the context of widespread criticism against the network for its handling of its treatment of women through the management of former staffer Amber Harrison, who had an affair with the network CEO Tim Worner.

In a statement, the Seven Network said "there was an investigation into alleged breaches of Amy Taeuber's employment contract".

"She was dismissed because of what she said during the investigation which conflicted with the facts.

"Seven's HR team did not try to build any case against her and their investigation was not related to any complaint made by Amy about other staff."