DALLAS — Former Dallas Mavericks normal supervisor Donnie Nelson sued the group Thursday, alleging that group proprietor Mark Cuban fired him in retaliation for reporting sexual misconduct by a group govt.
In a court docket doc filed in a Dallas County court docket, Nelson stated his relationship with Cuban soured after he known as for motion towards a group govt who's an in depth Cuban aide for sexually harassing a job applicant. Unbeknownst to Nelson, the lawsuit stated, Cuban had reached a confidential settlement with the applicant.
The deterioration of his relationship with Cuban, which Nelson stated had beforehand been shut, climaxed along with his firing, the lawsuit alleged.
When Nelson complained to the Equal Employment Alternative Fee of unlawful retaliation, Cuban supplied him $52 million to drop the grievance and enter right into a non-disclosure settlement, the lawsuit alleged.
Nelson additionally accused Cuban of a sample of masking up sexual misconduct claims.
“I filed this lawsuit on behalf of my household and all of the Mavericks staff who've skilled harassment, discrimination, or retaliation within the office,” Nelson stated in a press release.
In a press release, the Mavericks stated the allegations towards the group govt “had been promptly and totally investigated by outdoors investigators and counsel” and “had been decided to be fabricated.” The group additionally stated Nelson “refused to cooperate with the investigators that had been trying into his habits. Nelson’s claims of being terminated due to retaliation are fully unfounded and the lawsuit filed at the moment is baseless and filled with lies.”
The assertion concluded: “The Mavs have all the time meant to carry non-public the inappropriate actions of Donnie Nelson that led to his termination.”
Cuban additionally denied the allegations to ESPN, saying: “The whole lot in that submitting is a lie. We did a number of full investigations and the one person who didn't stay as much as the requirements of the Dallas Mavericks was Mr. Nelson. He was fired consequently.”
In 2018, the NBA reviewed 2011 allegations of sexual assault towards Cuban and the investigation that led to a choice by prosecutors to not pursue the case. Commissioner Adam Silver selected to not droop Cuban after discovering that he was in a roundabout way implicated within the misconduct towards girls inside his group.
Cuban additionally agreed to contribute $10 million to assist additional the reason for girls in sports activities and lift consciousness about home violence after an investigation substantiated quite a few incidents of sexual harassment and improper office conduct inside the franchise going again greater than 20 years.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
“The NBA league workplace was conscious of the grievance that was made towards Jason Lutin and that the Mavericks performed an investigation into the grievance,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated Thursday. “We had been additionally made conscious by the Dallas Mavericks that Donnie Nelson was going to be relieved of his duties.”
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