[Editor’s note: On Thursday, lawyers Lisa Banks and Debra Katz sent a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the current allegations of sexual harassment against the Washington Football Team. The full text of the letter, as posted on Twitter, appears below.]We signify over 12 former workers of the Washington Soccer Group who labored in several roles throughout completely different intervals of time, however all of whom share an analogous expertise: they — and the various extra who’ve contacted us within the final two days — had been every subjected to sexism, sexual harassment and abuse on the highest ranges of the group, together with by proprietor Daniel Snyder. We’re writing on behalf of our shoppers to request that you just take instant motion in opposition to Mr. Snyder and the Washington Soccer Group, whose misconduct has lengthy been recognized by the league, its followers and the general public at massive, however who for many years has escaped accountability.Yesterday, in response to a second painstakingly reported article in The Washington Put up detailing Mr. Snyder’s two decades-long reign over an abusive and sexually hostile work surroundings, you issued an announcement ‘strongly condemning the unprofessional, disturbing and abhorrent behavior and workplace environment alleged in the report which is entirely inconsistent with our standards and has no place in the NFL.’ You then cite to an ‘independent’ investigation being carried out by a legislation agency that Mr. Snyder’s Washington Soccer Group, not the Nationwide Soccer league, has hand-picked to analyze these points. This assertion and the motion that you’re touting — merely monitoring the progress of the crew’s investigation — is simply too little and too late. It doesn’t mirror the seriousness of the allegations, which we now know embody the manufacturing of a extremely sexualized and exploitative video that might result in civil or felony legal responsibility for these accountable.Daniel Snyder has been permitted to guide a company that has been permeated with misogyny, sexual harassment and routine abuse of feminine workers with impunity. Certainly, the group’s ‘disturbing and abhorrent behavior’ to which you refer has been carried out in plain view for greater than twenty years. Thus far, 42 ladies have courageously spoken out about experiencing extreme mistreatment whereas employed with the Washington Soccer Group. There are probably a whole lot extra over the span of Mr. Snyder’s 21 years as an NFL proprietor. The newest allegations level on to Mr. Snyder as condoning, if not spearheading, the misogyny, objectification, and abuse that’s deeply engrained within the tradition and certainly woven into the very cloth of the Washington Soccer Group. This consists of the surreptitious creation and certain dissemination of movies that sexually exploit and demean feminine workers, which doubtlessly constitutes a intercourse crime below Virginia legislation.Story continuesNot solely is the habits that’s fastidiously detailed within the two Washington Put up articles a violation of varied federal and state legal guidelines, it additionally clearly constitutes ‘conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football,’ see NFL Structure and Bylaws § 8.13, and ‘undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL, NFL clubs, or NFL players.’ See NFL Code of Conduct.Because of this, we name on the NFL to instantly provoke it personal impartial investigation of the Washington Soccer Group, and droop Daniel Snyder pending the end result of that investigation. Our shoppers would gladly take part in such an NFL investigation, however don’t really feel protected chatting with investigators employed by Mr. Snyder and don’t belief the investigation that’s at the moment underway. Certainly, our shoppers reside in worry of additional retaliation by Mr. Snyder, as he has repeatedly demonstrated his propensity to weaponize the authorized system to punish accusers and intimidate others from coming ahead, most not too long ago by submitting a frivolous doc in federal court docket that impugned the character of one in all our shoppers. His lawsuit, primarily based totally on demonstrable lies and innuendo that negatively impacted her popularity, also needs to be the topic of investigation by the NFL.Most significantly, we name on the NFL to commit publicly to taking actions in the direction of eradicating Mr. Snyder as the bulk proprietor of the Washington Soccer Group if the investigation substantiates the accounts detailed by The Washington Put up. The time is lengthy overdue for the NFL to police any such habits and to behave decisively to penalize these in its ranks, like Daniel Snyder, who enable ladies to be repeatedly exploited and mistreated as a prerogative of being a wealthy and highly effective NFL crew proprietor.The NFL has a accountability to make sure that its house owners preserve a protected working surroundings for all workers, and that features ladies. At a nationally televised information convention following revelations of home violence by NFL gamers, you boldly introduced that the NFL was altering its private conduct coverage and said, ‘We will get our house in order first.’ So long as an NFL proprietor mistreats, and permits others to mistreat, his feminine workers, your home shouldn’t be so as. You now have the facility to vary that. The Washington Soccer Group’s ‘abhorrent’ work surroundings may have been an open secret for many years, however that secret is out. As the general public seems to the NFL to see the way it will reply, the NFL should not merely subject reassuring public statements, and permit a serial abuser like Dan Snyder to proceed to guide this crew. If the league values ladies, its product, and its followers, it should ship a transparent message that it’s going to not tolerate this pervasive sexual harassment and exploitation. Phrases alone should not sufficient. If the NFL doesn’t arise now, it by no means will.Lastly, we urge the NFL to require the Washington Soccer Group to launch workers from onerous non-disclosure agreements that put them at authorized peril, and to direct Mr. Snyder to chorus from taking authorized motion in opposition to those that have come ahead. Presently, many dozens of former workers face the potential of being sued by Mr. Snyder if they’ve spoken out, or which to talk out, in regards to the ‘abhorrent’ practices to which they had been subjected whereas employed by his group and in some circumstances by Mr. Snyder himself. The NFL mustn’t abide practices that enable workers to be muzzled, unable to element the longstanding abuse by this group. With out full transparency there can’t be accountability.We stay up for working with you to convey an finish to this abuse, and to make sure that the NFL is a protected work surroundings for all workers.Full textual content of letter from Lisa Banks and Debra Katz to Roger Goodell initially appeared on Professional Soccer Discuss
