Of the various allegation of workplace misconduct made against the Washington Commanders, only two claims relate specifically to owner Daniel Snyder. One surfaced during a Congressional roundtable hearing in February. The other dates back to 2009.
The details of the incident, which resulted in $1.6 million settlement following claims of misconduct directed at Snyder on a private jet from the Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, previously has been kept secret. On the eve of a public hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Reform, an event at which Snyder has declined to testify, someone has leaked the details to the Washington Post.
Via Will Hobson of the Post, a female employee of the team “accused Snyder of asking her for sex, groping her and attempting to remove her clothes.” That information comes from a letter sent by an attorney for the team to the employee’s lawyer in 2009. Snyder denied the allegations. An in-house investigation accused the employee of fabricating the allegations as part of an “extortion attempt.” If it was extortion (and efforts to resolve legal claims before they are filed most definitely are not extortion), it worked; Snyder eventually paid $1.6 million, per the report.
The letter from Snyder’s lawyer threatened the former employee with litigation.
It’s unclear, as Hobson notes, whether the NFL ever was made aware of the situation. The Personal Conduct Policy requires teams to notice the league office of potential violations. By settling the claim pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, the goal was to keep it quiet, forever.
That surely will be one of the lines of questioning Commissioner Roger Goodell faces on Wednesday. Did the team report the incident? If not, should the team has reported it?
And, again, the Committee surely won’t be taking a non-answer for an answer.