Less than a week after the NBA gave then-Suns owner Robert Sarver underpowered “a slap on the wrist” — a one-year suspension and a $10 million fine – after a report uncovered nearly 18 years of racist and misogynistic behavior as a team owner, the Phoenix Suns hired a diversity, equity and inclusion program manager to help turn around the company culture.
That employee, Andrea Trischan, has now filed a complaint seeking $60 million in damages for “discrimination and wrongful termination.” reports Baxter Holmes at ESPN.
“Ms. Trischan has filed a formal complaint … due to ongoing racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation she experienced while employed with the Phoenix Suns,” Trischan’s attorney, Sheree Wright, wrote in an email to ESPN. “Specifically, Ms. Trischan endured overt racist comments and a hostile work environment that went unaddressed despite being reported to HR and executive leadership.”
The Suns and Mercury denied the allegations.
“A former employee who last worked for the organization in 2023 was terminated after less than 10 months for repeatedly failing to perform his job duties,” Suns and Mercury senior vice president of communications Stacey Mitch told ESPN. “This individual filed a baseless allegation with a state agency and is now attempting to use ESPN reporting from 2022, specific to prior ownership, to make outrageous claims to support her ridiculous $60 million demand from the Suns organization.”
Sarver later succumbed to pressure – after sponsors began to withdraw and other owners saw money going out the door – and began a process to sell the team (Mat Ishbia led the group that bought the team, a franchise valued at $ 4 billion for the sale).
Trischan says she was blocked from doing her job and bullied when she did. For example, when a Dec. 22 ESPN story named some of the team executives accused of misconduct, she realized several of them had been named to the club’s new diversity council. When she realized this and started investigating them, her superior – Kim Corbitt, the head of Human Resources – told her to stop investigating the men. Trischan said it was a sign of the hostile work environment and how those entrenched in power wanted things to stay the same. The Suns said Trischan’s work did not include investigations into past affairs.
The complaint has been filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the civil rights division of the Arizona Attorney General’s office, and the AG will investigate. The Suns say they will cooperate because the investigation will find nothing.
