Nike Execs Accused Of Getting 'Sloppy Drunk' & 'Preying' On Female Subordinates, Unsealed Court Documents Reveal
Dec. 21 2022, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Nike has been named in a newly unsealed gender discrimination lawsuit filed by at least 14 female staffers at the popular sneaker and apparel company, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2018, was unsealed in November and contains a shocking series of allegations against the footwear giant by female subordinates who claim they were “preyed on” by Nike executives.
Even more shocking is one alleged instance in which a female worker walked into the company’s campus gym only to find another female subordinate performing oral sex on an executive.
According to the New York Post, the gender discrimination civil lawsuit was initially filed against Nike in a U.S. District Court in Oregon on August 9, 2018.
The plaintiffs in the civil suit claim they were subjected to sexual advances by male bosses at the company’s “boys club” Oregon headquarters.
They also alleged that they regularly received suggestive remarks about their outfits and appearance and they constantly suffered “hints and innuendos” alluding to sex from Nike’s male higher-ups.
Nike, Inc. HQ, Oregon
During a series of separate alleged incidents, Nike executives would get “sloppy drunk” and prey on their female underlings despite the alleged victims’ complaints and protests.
The documents unsealed in November also contained a series of “deposition testimony, executive emails, speech crafts and correspondence between lawyers” in the civil lawsuit from when it was first filed in 2018.
Although the damning lawsuit is bound to rock the multi-billion-dollar multinational apparel company, Nike recently received a small win in the ongoing case when a judge denied class-action status for the civil suit.
After the judge denied class-action status for the civil suit, the pool if plaintiffs shrank from a whopping 5,200 individuals to only the 14 female subordinates who initially filed the complaint against the company.
Nike, Inc. Chairman Mark Parker
According to the newly unsealed lawsuit, female staffers took it upon themselves to circulate at least a dozen anonymous surveys inquiring about potential instances of sexual harassment and gender discrimination throughout the workplace because they didn’t believe human resources would handle the complaints seriously.
“Employee resources and HR at this company are a joke,” one female subordinate wrote in the anonymous survey.
“Females at this company have felt very little power to change a culture and environment that has been and continues to be disrespectful to women,” wrote another.
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Mark Parker, who was named executive chairman of Nike in 2016, received the anonymous surveys in March 2018.
Shortly after receiving the surveys, Parker “reshuffled” management at Nike. 11 executives also left the company shortly after the surveys were submitted to Parker.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve become aware of reports occurring within our organization that do not reflect our core values of inclusivity, respect and empowerment,” Parker wrote at the time.
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