Fox Broadcasting's breach-of-contract counterclaim may proceed against a former executive who has sued the network for religious discrimination, but who Fox says was fired for violating the company's sexual harassment policies.

Cliff Pozner, who worked for Fox for 22 years, the last two as the company's executive vice president of pricing, planning and inventory management, was fired in September 2016 after numerous current and former employees came forward with sexual harassment allegations against him, Fox said according to an opinion from a Manhattan Supreme Court judge, and other papers filed in the case.

In April 2017, Pozner began litigation with a suit against Fox alleging both breach of contract and religious discrimination, claiming he was fired because he is Jewish. He claimed he is entitled to more than $9.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

But two months after Pozner filed his suit, Fox fired back with counterclaims of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Pozner's ouster came just months after Fox News founder Roger Ailes resigned amid sexual harassment allegations of his own and before the dismissals of other Fox personalities who have been accused of sexual misconduct, including TV hosts Bill O'Reilly and Eric Bolling.

The suit also detailed the allegations against Pozner that the company looked into, including accusations by two female colleagues that Pozner asked them to expose themselves and an accusation that Pozner suggested that a female colleague have sex with a supervisor so that the supervisor would be less demanding of their department.

Ruling on Fox's counterclaims in an order published this week, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla preserved the company's breach-of-contract counterclaim, finding that Pozner had agreed to follow Fox's anti-sexual harassment policies as a condition of his employment contract.

But Scarpulla rejected Fox's breach-of-fiduciary claim, finding that, as an executive and an employee, Pozner had a duty to be loyal to the company, that the loyalty extends to not committing acts that are at odds with the employer's business interests, such as embezzlement and usurping business opportunities.

“Fox has failed to present, and I haven't found any New York case, in which sexual harassment by an executive, without more, forms the basis for a breach of the duty of loyalty claim, resulting in the employer's recovery of the employee's salary for the entire term of such conduct,” the judge said.

Michael Goettig, of counsel to Davis Wright Tremaine, represents Fox. He declined to comment.

Ethan Leonard of the Law Offices of Neal Brickman represents Pozner. He did not respond to a message requesting comment.