Attorneys General to Investigate NFL’s Treatment of Female Employees
The New York and California attorneys general have opened a joint investigation into allegations of employment discrimination and unequal pay at NFL offices in both states following a February 2022 New York Times report on the treatment of women who work for the competition.
The announcement by New York’s Letitia James and California’s Rob Bonta comes a year after The Times interviewed more than 30 current and former NFL employees who described a stifling and demoralizing company culture that led some women to quit in frustration and left many feeling brushed off. . aside.
“No matter how powerful or influential, no institution is above the law and we will make sure the NFL is held accountable,” James said in a statement.
Bonta added, “We are deeply concerned about the NFL’s role in creating an extremely hostile and harmful work environment.”
The attorney general, who issued subpoenas to the NFL for relevant information regarding the handling of the claims, said the league had taken insufficient steps to prevent discrimination and retaliation in the workplace. There is no time limit on the duration of the study.
The league said on Thursday it intends to “fully cooperate with the attorneys general,” adding in a statement that “these allegations are in complete violation of the values and practices of the NFL” and that it ” does not tolerate any form of discrimination”.
“Our policy is intended not only to comply with all applicable laws, but also to promote a workplace free from harassment, harassment and discrimination,” the statement said.
The women’s allegations had prompted the attorneys general of six states in April 2022 to encourage the NFL to address these and other workplace issues or face a formal investigation. The Attorney General, led by James, also asked victims and witnesses of discrimination to the NFL to file complaints with their offices.
The league said it wrote to James and other attorneys general on May 18, 2022, to outline its policies and practices, but received no response before Thursday’s announcement.
About 1,100 people work for the NFL in its offices in New York, New Jersey and California. According to a spokesman for the union, 37 percent are women and 30 percent of color. The league has put more effort into diversifying its hirings and has mandatory anti-racism training and an anonymous hotline — called Protect the Shield — for employee concerns.
But women who work there have said the problems persist. One, a senior manager whose job was vacated and left the league in March 2022, filed a case of age and gender discrimination in April against NFL Enterprises and NFL Properties – two corporate divisions of the league – as well as several executives.
That case was brought by Jennifer Love, who helped create NFL Network and became the NFL Media Group’s first female vice president in 19 years. Love claimed that the league’s human resources department never acted on her complaints about “pervasive sexism in the workplace and that the NFL had a ‘boys’ club’ mentality.” She told Human Resources and her managers that several top male executives were openly hostile to her and men with less experience were repeatedly promoted over her.
According to her complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, one of those executives, Mark Quenzel, told Love in March 2022 that her job was being cut.
The Times reported that Quenzel, NFL Network’s senior vice president and head of content, was accused of shoving a female colleague during a rehearsal for the 2020 Super Bowl and faced league discipline, including being forced to complete a course anger management. A spokesperson for the league, speaking on behalf of Quenzel and the league last year, denied the allegation and insisted that Quenzel was not pressuring her.
Last year, the NFL’s work culture came under scrutiny again because of a discrimination lawsuit filed by Brian Flores, the former Afro-Latin coach of the Miami Dolphins. He claimed the league violated rules requiring teams to interview a wide variety of candidates for head coach and general manager positions.
Flores was fired by the Dolphins at the end of the 2021 season and, with no offers for head coaching, was hired as an assistant defensive line coach by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is now the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.
A federal judge in New York ruled in March that Flores’ claims of discrimination against the league were not subject to private arbitration as the league had sought, clearing the way for a public expression of his grievances.
Several teams have vehemently denied Flores’ claims, and the NFL said last year it was “deeply committed to ensuring fair labor practices” and that “we will defend ourselves against these claims, which are baseless.”
A congressional committee also investigated the NFL’s handling of claims of widespread sexual harassment in the front office of the Washington Commanders. That committee requested tens of thousands of documents from the league and held a hearing in February 2022 in which former employees talked about their experiences with the team. Two women made new allegations of harassment directly implicating Daniel Snyder, the commanders’ owner.
Snyder has denied the allegations and the NFL opened a second investigation into the more recent claims.
Congress sought information from the NFL’s first year-long investigation into harassment reports against the Commanders organization, which ended with the league fined the team $10 million in July 2021, but declined to disclose the full findings . Snyder also agreed to hand over day-to-day operations of the team to his wife, Tanya, for a year.
Last December, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform released a 79-page report that concluded that Snyder, aided by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, withheld evidence that Snyder and team managers sexually harassed women who had been with the team for more than two decades. worked.
Last month, Snyder reached an agreement in principle to sell the team for $6 billion.