Thirteen additional women have come forward with complaints against former Seven journalist Robert Ovadia since he was sacked by the network in late June, a Sydney court has heard.

The veteran reporter has launched legal action against his former employer in the Federal Court, after previously denying allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

Mr Ovadia didn't attend court as the case reached its first largely administrative listing before Justice Elizabeth Raper on Thursday morning.

In a statement, he described the claims of 13 additional women coming forward as "baseless" and said that Seven had never provided him with evidence of the allegations "despite repeated requests".

Mr Ovadia said Seven's claims were "just a dirty tactic to try to bully me away from defending myself".

Barrister Andrew Gotting, representing Mr Ovadia, told the judge that his client's letter of termination was effected immediately, citing "serious misconduct".

There was an express statement that he was not entitled to a notice of termination, Mr Gotting said.

A minor dispute arose regarding which party should produce its evidence first, and Mr Gotting said in cases where there are allegations of misconduct the onus fell upon the employer to establish the misconduct.

He argued the matter was one of the rare cases where it was appropriate for the respondent to put on its evidence first.

Barrister Vanja Bulut, representing Seven and its new boss Anthony De Ceglie, said two matters were investigated for which Mr Ovadia's employment was terminated.

They included allegations that he sent a number of inappropriate pictures to a producer and sent a photograph of men's genitals to a different colleague.

One of those allegations was recently reported in an episode of the ABC's Four Corners.

The journalist, who spent 23 years with Seven, has previously described allegations of inappropriate behaviour as false and said they would be defended.

On Thursday, Ms Bulut said subsequent to Mr Ovadia's dismissal, 13 more women had come forward with complaints in relation to his conduct.

Mr Ovadia had been "put on notice" of that, she said.

Ms Bulut said that even if Seven and Mr De Ceglie didn't have a basis to summarily terminate the employment, the alleged conduct that had subsequently come to light provided a basis for it.

The court heard the parties attempted conciliation at the Fair Work Commission around six weeks ago, which did not resolve the matter.

Justice Raper has ordered that the parties attend mediation.