According to an unsealed gender discrimination lawsuit against multinational footwear corporation Nike, executives at a well-known fashion brand’s US office would get “sloppy drunk” and prey on female subordinates while the company ignored their complaints.
The female underlings claimed in their complaint that Nike’s Oregon headquarters was a “boys club” where male executives subjected them to suggestive comments about their appearance, sexual advances, and hints and innuendos alluding to sex, the New York Post reported.
In a civil complaint filed in US District Court in Oregon, a woman reported that an executive had oral sex with a female subordinate in the campus gym. Another employee recalled male coworkers telling her to “dress sexier” and “show some skin,” the lawsuit said.
The documents, which were unsealed last month, include deposition testimony, executive emails, speech draughts, and correspondence between lawyers involved in the 2018 lawsuit. The judge denied the lawsuit’s class-action status.
During business trips, male executives would become “sloppy drunk” and wrap their arms around female subordinates, according to the lawsuit. Other women were invited to “work dinners” with higher-ranking men who hoped to sleep with them. According to the lawsuit, several women at the company distributed anonymous surveys inquiring about alleged instances of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
In one of the surveys, a woman stated that Nike was a huge men’s sports team, where favoritism reigns supreme and females could not possibly play in the sandbox. One female worker alleged that she was told by a male executive: “Maybe if you dressed nicer I would be on time.”
According to Insider, the women rarely reported these incidents to human resources because they didn’t believe the department would take them seriously. Following several female employees’ dissatisfaction with the company’s handling of previous complaints, the surveys began to circulate in 2018. Despite the fact that dozens of surveys were collected, only ten of them made it into the court records. Nike’s request to keep the content of the surveys secret was denied by a judge.
Nike’s current executive chairman, Mark Parker, received the surveys in March 2018, according to Insider. He was the CEO of the company at the time. Parker announced a management reshuffle just days after receiving the surveys. In an email, he also apologized to Nike employees. At least 11 executives left the company after Parker received the surveys. Nike also made an effort to increase the number of women in its management ranks. Since 2018, the proportion of women serving as company vice presidents has increased from 36% to 43%.
The shoe company has also denied claims of a gender pay gap, claiming that women were paid $11,000 less per year than men doing the same jobs. Insider first reported the allegations, citing the same gender discrimination lawsuit.
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