A dozen more women have come forward with stories about the Washington Football Team's toxic work environment, one attorney fielding their calls says.
"We've heard from another probably dozen women who have come forward, or want to come forward, to share their experiences at the organization," said attorney Lisa Banks to The Sports Junkies on Friday.
Banks helped pen a letter written to Roger Goodell on Thursday, requesting the NFL to open its own independent investigation into Washington owner Dan Snyder and calling for Snyder's immediate suspension until the investigation's conclusion. Goodell has strongly condemned the organization's behavior publicly.
It should be noted this is separate from the potential legal action being pursued by famed attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing four former Washington cheerleaders.
"If there are serious allegations as there are here — and have been in two separate articles in The Washington Post that point directly to the top of the organization, all the way down — it's not uncommon to say, 'Okay, we're going to do an investigation,'" Banks explained on 106.7 The Fan. "'In the meantime, we're gonna sideline you.'"
"Because these are serious allegations," she said. "I think that is an imminently fair ask and the NFL should do it, and to demonstrate they're serious about looking into this and making changes. But there aren't gonna be changes made while he's still running that organization. So let's sideline him, see what's there, and if these allegations are substantiated from the toxic work environment that has existed for decades through the videos that appear to have been created at his direction, then I think they can take the next step and move to remove him as an owner."
Banks says her clients were personally upset by reading Snyder's public statement in response to this week's Washington Post article, which directly linked the team owner to sexual harassment claims inside the organization.
"Of course it upsets us," she said. "Everything that he has said, which tries to divorce himself from these allegations, is upsetting to my clients, and claiming that it's a 'hit piece' is akin to saying this is fake news. But it's not. Right?
"We have, as you said, over 40 people who have come forward. We have many, many people who have gone on the record to say this was my experience at the organization."
"I think that at one point Dan had said in a prior statement or article that it was fair for people to come forward and share their experiences," she continued. "Well, that's what people are doing in droves."
Banks confirmed approximately 12 women came forward in the past 48 hours, after publication of The Post's report involving Snyder.
Asked to speak on the legal ramifications she's pursuing on their behalf, Banks said, "Well, I have at this point probably about a dozen clients. As I said, about 10 or 12 more have contacted me in the last couple of days."
"Right now, we're not talking about lawsuits," she said. "My clients are considering all their options. The point for these individuals to come forward — mostly women, but some men — was simply to, at this point, expose this toxic environment that has existed for decades, to shine a light on it and to try to force some sort of change, because this has to change."
"You can't have this kind of working environment in the 21st century and, frankly, he's been allowed to have this type of organization and run it this way with impunity and that has to stop," she said. "So the clients, really, are about effecting change here and forcing the NFL to do the right thing. Lawsuits may or may not come on the heels of this, but that's really not the focus here."
Banks was also asked how she distinguishes between harassment claims alleged against the former Washington employees — who parted with the organization after an initial Washington Post expose in July – and the allegations against Snyder specifically.
"Well, those individuals were certainly engaging in bad behavior on a very consistent basis, but they're Dan Snyder's top lieutenants," she said. "They all worked together to run the organization, so this idea that Dan Snyder was unaware of the culture in his own organization, or that he was not aware of how these men behaved and operated, is ludicrous."
"You can accuse Dan Snyder of a lot of things, but being hands-off is not one of them," she added. "We've been seeing that for 20 years, that his meddling and micro-management has essentially run this team into the ground. So the idea that he didn't know what was happening is ridiculous."
In his statement, Snyder admitted to being "too hands-off" as an NFL owner by allowing others "to have day-to-day control to the detriment of our organization."
Banks is also requesting that the NFL mandate the Washington organization to release employees from their non-disclosure agreements.
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