The Washington Post reported Thursday that 15 female former employees of the city’s NFL franchise said they were sexually harassed during their time with the team.
In a statement, the team said it takes issues of employee conduct seriously and added, “While we do not speak to specific employee situations publicly, when new allegations of conduct are brought forward that are contrary to these policies, we address them promptly.”
Meanwhile, three members of the front office are no longer with the organization, and owner Dan Snyder hired a District of Columbia law firm to review the club’s culture, policies and allegations of workplace misconduct. Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Walsh LLP confirmed to The Associated Press that the firm had been retained to conduct an independent review.
Director of player personnel Alex Santos, assistant Richard Mann II and longtime broadcaster and senior vice president Larry Michael are no longer with the team. Michael announced Wednesday he was retiring after 16 years.
Santos, Mann, Michael and former business executives Dennis Greene and Mitch Gershman were mentioned in the Post story.
Washington is in the midst of several months of significant change. President Bruce Allen was fired at the end of the 2019 season, coach Ron Rivera was hired on New Year’s Day and given control of football operations and the team this week announced it’s dumping the name “Redskins” after 87 years.
Allen’s departure coincided with the firing of the team’s previous medical and training staff, and Rivera brought trainers with him from Carolina and hired a new coaching staff.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – In this Dec. 26, 2015, file photo, Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder walks the sidelines during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, in Philadelphia. A new name must still be selected for the Washington Redskins football team, one of the oldest and most storied teams in the National Football League, and it was unclear how soon that will happen. But for now, arguably the most polarizing name in North American professional sports is gone at a time of reckoning over racial injustice, iconography and racism in the U.S. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)