The Raiders Are Continuing To Face Troubling Allegations

Former Las Vegas Raiders employees have accused the team of a hostile work environment. 

Briana Erickson and Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported claims from multiple former staff members detailing a toxic work culture "that left them feeling unsupported, underpaid and at risk of retaliation if they voiced concerns." One woman described the team as a "boys club and the mob wrapped in one."

Erickson and Jeff German listed several lawsuits directed against the Raiders organization since 2013. One of the accusers is Nicole Adams, a former human resource employee who filed a complaint with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission claiming the organization discriminated against her base on her race and fired her in retaliation when she expressed concerns about unequal treatment.

Adams told Erickson and Akers that she was told to make job descriptions that allowed the company to circumvent overtime regulations. She also said women were told how to dress and were reprimanded for "distracting the men" with their attire.

“Every time someone was let go, every time someone was retaliated against or pushed out, every time they had to leave feeling less than themselves, it hurt me,” Adams said. “In the role of an HR professional, you’re supposed to protect people from things like that, but I had no power to do so.”

Nicolle Reeder, another former employee who filed a class-action lawsuit against the Raiders in 2020 for violating California labor law, said working there was "like survival of the fittest."

The organization came under closer scrutiny last month. After being abruptly dismissed in May, former interim president Dan Ventrelle told Akers he was fired after raising concerns about their workplace created by owner Mark Davis. 

However, Adams said Ventrelle "was involved in every situation" of workplace harassment and hostile conditions. She was fired in 2020, two weeks after making a formal complain to Ventrelle.

"He always said that he was going to help us, but instead we were all replaced," she said.

Davis, who has run the organization since his father Al Davis' death in 2011, said he will "eventually" speak to these allegations. An NFL spokesperson, who previously said the claims against the team are under examination, declined to comment.