In a gender discrimination lawsuit, Nike executives were accused of intentionally targeting female employees while they were intoxicated, and the company was accused of ignoring their complaints. The lawsuit was filed by former employees Sara Johnston and Kelly Cahill.
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According to the complaint, which was filed in a United States District Court, the incidents occurred at the sporting company’s headquarters in Oregon, where male executives allegedly subjected the women to sexual advances, as reported by the New York Post. In one case, a female employee witnessed an executive receiving oral sex from a colleague in the campus gym. Another female employee claimed that male coworkers told her she needed to dress “sexier” and show more skin at work.
Other female employees were also invited to work dinners where executives allegedly hoped they would sleep with them after a while. Several women participated in an anonymous survey to discuss gender discrimination and sexual harassment situations. The women did not report the incidents to Human Resources because they believed their claims would be dismissed.
One employee felt that women who worked for the company were powerless against their male colleagues due to the culture and workplace behavior that has taken place. The surveys were conducted in 2018 and a judge blocked Nike’s request to keep the information from the surveys sealed. After former CEO Mark Parker received the surveys, he wanted to make several management changes and called for accountability. Soon after the changes were made, 11 executives left the company.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve become aware of reports of behavior occurring within our organization that do not reflect our core values of inclusivity, respect, and empowerment at a time when we are accelerating our transition to the next stage of growth and advancing our culture,” Parker wrote in the email.
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Last month, the unsealed surveys were released which revealed the female employees’ issues with the company’s alleged culture of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. One employee wrote, “No one gives a f*ck about female empowerment,” while another said Nike was a “giant men’s sports team, where favoritism prevails and females couldn’t possible play in the sandbox.”
In a report by Complex, it was revalued that the plaintiffs accused Nike of underpaying female employees $11,000 on average from 2015 to 2019 but the company’s lawyers claims there was no evidence. The motion was filed earlier this year but it was denied by a federal judge. However, the women plan to appeal the decision by stating the issues at Nike were all-around instead of blaming a small group of executives at the Oregon headquarters.