NFL fines Washington Football Team $10M after probe into work culture

The National Football League levied a $10 million fine against the Washington Football Team on Thursday as a result of the league’s investigation into the organization’s workplace culture.

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According to the NFL, the fine will support organizations committed to character education, anti-bullying, healthy relationships and related topics.

In addition, team owner Dan Snyder announced he will step away from day-to-day operations. His wife, Tanya Snyder, will take over team operations and will represent the team at league meetings, the NFL said in a news release. Dan Snyder will focus on a new stadium plan “and other matters.”

The franchise had been under an independent investigation since July 2020, ESPN reported. The probe was led by former federal prosecutor Beth Wilkinson after reports of several sexual harassments by former employees over a 15-year period, The Washington Post reported. The allegations were made by 15 former female employees and two journalists covering the team, according to the newspaper. Those allegations were ignored, and in some cases condoned, by top club executives, The Post reported.

“I have learned a lot in the past few months about how my club operated, and the kind of workplace that we had,” Dan Snyder said in a statement. “It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue. I know that as the owner, I am ultimately responsible for the workplace. I have said that and I say it again.

“I feel great remorse for the people who had difficult, even traumatic, experiences while working here. I’m truly sorry for that. I can’t turn back the clock, but I promise that nobody who works here will ever have that kind of experience again, at least not as long as Tanya and I are the owners of this team.”

In a statement, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that “for many years the workplace environment at the Washington Football Team, both generally and particularly for women, was highly unprofessional.

“Over the past 18 months, Dan and Tanya have recognized the need for change and have undertaken important steps to make the workplace comfortable and dignified for all employees, and those changes, if sustained and built upon, should allow the club to achieve its goal of having a truly first-tier workplace,” Goodell said in a statement. “I truly appreciate their commitment to fully implement each of the below ten recommendations, but the league also must ensure accountability for past deficiencies and for living up to current and future commitments.”

“Bullying and intimidation frequently took place and many described the culture as one of fear, and numerous female employees reported having experienced sexual harassment and a general lack of respect in the workplace,” the NFL said in its statement.

The NFL said that the team’s “Ownership and senior management paid little or no attention to these issues. In some instances, senior executives engaged in inappropriate conduct themselves, including use of demeaning language and public embarrassment.”

“This set the tone for the organization and led to key executives believing that disrespectful behavior and more serious misconduct was acceptable in the workplace.”

All senior executives, including the Snyders, will participate in training that covers workplace conduct such as bullying, diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ issues, microaggression and unconscious bias, ESPN reported.

Snyder is the third NFL owner to be sanctioned by the league since Goodell was named commissioner in 2006, the Post reported.

The league fined Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay $500,000 in 2014 and suspended him for six games for violating NFL policy after pleading guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, the newspaper reported. In 2018, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was fined $2.75 million after the NFL concluded a probe into workplace allegations against him, according to the Post.

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