A pair of former Golden State Warriors workers have filed a lawsuit in opposition to the group after shedding their jobs.
The 2 girls filed the lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court docket final week, in accordance with The Athletic’s Devon Henderson, and are alleging gender, age and race-based discrimination, office harassment and retaliation.
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Lisa Shelley labored because the Warriors’ affiliate common counsel and their director of enterprise and authorized affairs and threat administration. Jennifer Vasquez was the workforce’s vice chairman of variety, fairness and inclusion. The 2 stated they suffered “humiliation, emotional misery, embarrassment and psychological and bodily ache and anguish” throughout their time working for the Warriors’ entrance workplace. The office, they stated within the lawsuit, was “marked by discrimination, hostility and retaliation.”
Shelley was employed by the Warriors in 2021, and he or she claims that the workforce handed her over for a number of promotions and at one level promoted a youthful male worker with much less expertise over her. In line with The Athletic, she secured company partnerships price greater than $4 million throughout her time with the Warriors, amongst different issues, and was additionally as soon as named worker of the month.
Shelley was fired in December 2025, when she was instructed the workforce’s authorized division was being “reimagined.” She alleged within the lawsuit that her superior was not current within the termination assembly, both, which is in opposition to workforce coverage.
Then, lower than two weeks later, Vasquez was fired after the Warriors opted to remove their DEI operate. Vasquez declined to characterize her departure as “voluntary” just like the workforce requested, and he or she was fired in January.
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Each Shelley and Vasquez criticized the workforce’s office tradition for ladies, and stated that the workforce’s chief folks officer, Erin Dangerfield, “”often criticized feminine workers’ our bodies, bodily look, and wardrobe decisions.” Girls of colour or with bigger physique varieties, per the report, have been disproportionately focused.
“Early in Plaintiff Vasquez’s employment, throughout a one-on-one assembly, Dangerfield instructed Plaintiff Vasquez that ladies who wished to work in skilled sports activities typically did so as a result of they have been ‘jersey chasers,’ referring to girls who sought employment in sports activities to pursue romantic or sexual consideration from skilled athletes,” the lawsuit reads, per the report.
Vasquez alleged that she was as soon as laughed at for being over 40 years outdated in a workforce assembly, and was instructed she needed to “play the sport” to succeed regardless of others sharing in comparable discomforts.
Shelley additionally claimed that she misplaced a job provide from the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this yr after the Warriors “made false and disparaging statements” when contacted for a reference. A conditional provide of employment that she had acquired in June was withdrawn, per the report.
“Plaintiffs have been drawn to the GSW, partly, as a result of San Francisco is without doubt one of the most culturally numerous cities within the nation, and a nationwide bastion for human rights,” the lawsuit reads. “The culturally accountable, family-oriented setting that Plaintiffs Vasquez and Shelley anticipated once they joined GSW was removed from what they endured.”
The Clippers declined to remark to The Athletic on Tuesday, whereas the Warriors denied the allegations made in opposition to them.
“Golden State prides itself on its dedication to sustaining an inclusive setting grounded in mutual respect and professionalism,” the Warriors stated in an announcement. “We take all office issues critically. The lawsuit filed by two former workers incorporates allegations which might be false, deceptive, and unsupported by credible proof. Most of the allegations have been beforehand reviewed or investigated and located to be with out benefit.
“Golden State intends to vigorously defend in opposition to these baseless claims and is assured that an examination of the details will verify that Golden State, its management, and the workers focused on this lawsuit have always operated with the best ranges of integrity and equity.”
