Mavericks Workplace Misconduct Report: Cuban Donates $ 10 Million



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Mark Cuban, owner of Mavericks, has agreed with the NBA to donate $ 10 million to organizations that promote women in leadership roles and fight domestic violence as a result of the independent investigation into workplace misconduct of the franchise. Adrian Wojnarowksi from ESPN.com first reported the news.

The maximum fine that the NBA can give is only $ 2.5 million.

On Wednesday, the league released the results of the independent investigation into sexual harassment and misconduct at the team's office, which was led by Anne Milgram, Evan Krutoy and Krutoy Law, all of whom were hired by the Mavericks. The survey suggested that the team should increase the number of women in the staff, including in management positions; improve formal reporting processes for victims of misconduct; set up regular and anonymous employee surveys to assess the culture of the workplace; and expand and improve the Mavericks Human Resources Department and put in place clear protocols for investigating misconduct.

The NBA asks the team to provide the league office with quarterly reports on the recommendations set out in the report and their implementation; report immediately to the league office any case or allegation of serious misconduct on the part of an employee; continuously improve and update the annual Respect in the Workplace training for all staff, including property; and implement a training program for all staff, including property, on issues related to family violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

All this comes from one Illustrated Sports The February story of Jon Wertheim and Jessica Luther detailed a highly inappropriate pattern of sexual behavior that had been unfolding for years in the Mavericks workplace.

The investigation revealed that "many cases of sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct" have been ongoing in the organization for more than 20 years.

In SI's original history, former team president and CEO, Terdema Ussery, was one of the key players in the corrosive culture in the workplace.

During his 18 years with the Mavericks, Ussery reportedly told a woman that she would be "gangbanged", putting her hands on a woman's thigh without her consent and suggestively telling a woman "seriously … just Once". A former employee of the team said that when she had told her friends that she had taken a job with the Mavericks, she had been told to monitor the president. "Whatever you do, do not get stuck in an elevator with him."

According to the story, the organization investigated Ussery in 1998 after several women complained about its conduct. He stayed with the Mavericks and remained as president when Cuban bought the team in 2000.

The investigation revealed that Ussery had been improperly behaving in 15 women through "inappropriate comments, kisses and forced kisses". It was also concluded that there was no evidence that Cuban was aware of Ussery's behavior, none of the 215 witnesses having said that they had spoken of the Cuban misconduct and no documentary evidence that Cuban was current of what was happening with Ussery.

Another man mentioned in the story was the former reporter of the team, Earl K. Sneed. In 2011, Sneed was arrested at the team's premises two months after a domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend at the time. The police reports indicate that he slapped his girlfriend in the face and chest while sitting on her and that at some point he said, "I'm going to fuck your ass. your life."

Sneed was involved in another domestic violence incident in 2014 in which he allegedly hit a colleague with whom he had a relationship. The employee came to work one day with a swollen face and reported abuse to her supervisor and to Buddy Pittman, former Mavericks Human Resources Manager, who was fired just before the publication of the original story from the IS. Sneed was suspended at the same time, but was fired the same day the story came out.

The investigation confirmed both cases of domestic violence.

A few months after the history of the SI, The Dallas Morning News reported a former senior executive who kept his job on the team for years, despite repeatedly watching pornography at work. In 2008, Cuban warned Chris Hyde – who worked with fellow "Pants DJs" because of the way he rubbed himself at watching pornographic images at work – that he would be fired if he continued to watch pornography at work. job. However, after a few months of stopping, Hyde resumed his previous behavior.

Some former employees said they never reported their behavior to human resources because they thought Hyde's actions were known and accepted by his superiors. He was fired in 2014, but not for his inappropriate behavior.

The investigation confirmed that Hyde had made inappropriate comments to women of a sexual nature, viewed and shared pornographic images and videos, made unsolicited and unwanted sexual advances, and had violent and threatening access to colleagues. .

Just six days after SI history, Cuban hired Cynthia Marshall as the new interim CEO of the team. Since taking office, Marshall has been working on the hiring of Tarsha LaCour as Vice President of Human Resources, has promoted six female employees to executive positions and created the position of Head of Human Resources. And ethics at Cynthia Wales.

Following the publication of the report's findings, Marshall held a press conference with Milgram where they provided statements and answered questions regarding the report and its findings.

Milgram noted how Ussery "was most responsible for creating" the culture that allowed all the mistakes to happen. Milgram mentioned that Ussery had never received an official complaint for his behavior and that, when complaints were filed against other employees, he had done poorly to discipline people and advised Cuban of his actions inappropriate.

In addition, Mr. Milgram testified that Usery did not properly inform Cuban of workplace transgressions and several other incidents when Cuban did not obtain all information about an incident or openly turned a blind eye to an incident.

Cuban appeared on ESPN The jump Wednesday and was interviewed by Rachel Nichols.

"I'm sorry I did not see it," Cuban told Nichols. "I'm sorry I did not recognize it, I did not know and I have no explanation.

"In hindsight, it looked me right in the eye and I missed it … I had a CEO to whom I recovered, it was a mistake."

You can read the full investigation report here.

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