The Washington NFL franchise is under more scrutiny.
Fifteen former employees who worked for the Redskins told The Washington Post that they were sexually harassed while working for the organization, the newspaper published in a bomb report Thursday.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE AT FOXNEWS.COM
According to The Post, the team rejected a request to release 15 of the former employees from confidentiality agreements so they could speak at the registry.
Emily Applegate, who worked as a marketing coordinator before leaving in 2015, was the only woman who spoke to the newspaper on record about her experience working for the organization. The allegations, which reportedly ran from 2006 to 2019, would be included in unwanted sexual proposals or comments, and exhortations to wear revealing clothing and flirt with customers to close sales deals.
“It was the most miserable experience of my life,” Applegate told the newspaper. “And we all tolerated it, because we knew that if we complained, and they reminded us, there were 1,000 people out there who would take our job in an instant.”
Washington owner Daniel Snyder also rejected several interview requests, according to the newspaper.
Last weekend, The Washington Post detailed these allegations to the team, and found that three employees were involved in these inappropriate behaviors, the newspaper reported. Longtime Washington radio voice Larry Michael, who abruptly retired on Wednesday, and professional team director Alex Santos, who was recently fired, were two names mentioned in Thursday’s allegations.
Michael would comment on the physical appearance of colleagues in a sexual way. And in 2018, he was caught in a “hot microphone” talking about the characteristics of a college-age inmate. The Santos newspaper reportedly accused Santos of six former employees and two reporters covering the team of making inappropriate comments about their bodies and asking them if they were romantically interested in him.
Richard Mann II, a former assistant director of professional staff, said in a text message, which was acquired by The Post, that he and his colleagues debated whether or not an employee’s breasts had been improved by a surgical procedure. Mann was also fired last week by the team.
The team announced in a statement that it hired Washington DC attorney Beth Wilkinson “to conduct a comprehensive and independent review in all of this manner and help the team set new employee standards for the future.”
According to the newspaper, none of the 15 women accused Snyder or former team president Bruce Allen of inappropriate behavior. However, the women believed that they should have known that these behaviors were happening.
“I guess Bruce [Allen] I knew it, because he sat 30 feet from me … and he saw me sobbing at my desk several times every week, “Applegate told the newspaper.
“The Washington Redskins soccer team takes employee behavior problems seriously,” the team said in a statement. “While we do not speak publicly about specific employee situations, when new conduct allegations are made that are contrary to these policies, we address them promptly.”
