The Washington Football Team must pay a $10 million fine to the NFL after reviewing its workplace culture.
The league announced the penalty along with the requirement that team executives undergo workplace training on bullying, diversity harassment, LGBTQ issues, and unconscious bias as a conclusion to the investigation, which was initiated last July in response to allegations of a toxic work environment.
A monthslong review, which included interviews with more than 150 current and former employees of the organization, revealed years of bullying, intimidation, and sexual harassment that created a “highly unprofessional” workplace and a “culture of fear,” the league said in a Thursday news release. The review was led by independent counsel Beth Wilkinson.
“Ownership and senior management paid little or no attention to these issues,” the NFL said. “In some instances, senior executives engaged in inappropriate conduct themselves, including use of demeaning language and public embarrassment.”
NFL DECLARES THAT ‘FOOTBALL IS GAY’ IN COMMERCIAL SUPPORTING CARL NASSIB
“This set the tone for the organization and led to key executives believing that disrespectful behavior and more serious misconduct was acceptable in the workplace,” the league continued.
Owner Dan Snyder said he has “learned a lot” in recent months about how his organization operated during the period under review and accepted responsibility for its findings.
“It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue,” Snyder said in a statement. “I promise that nobody who works here will ever have that kind of experience again, at least not as long as Tanya and I are the owners of this team.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Tanya Snyder, his wife and co-CEO of the team, will oversee daily operations of the team for “at least the next several months” as the team implements changes, the NFL said. The Snyders agreed to diversify their workforce to include more women and minorities, conduct regular workplace culture surveys, and develop a protocol for reporting harassment, as well as adhere to seven other recommendations from the review.
“Over the past 18 months, Dan and Tanya have recognized the need for change and have undertaken important steps to make the workplace comfortable and dignified for all employees, and those changes, if sustained and built upon, should allow the club to achieve its goal of having a truly first-tier workplace,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement, adding the qualification that they “also must ensure accountability for past deficiencies and for living up to current and future commitments.”
The team, formerly known as the Washington Redskins, reached a settlement with a group of former team cheerleaders in February over a series of lewd videos taken without their consent during a photo shoot and secretly produced by team employees.
