NFL has not agreed to meet with women who worked for WFT and seek answers about investigation
The NFL took several weeks to acknowledge a request from former female employees of the Washington Football Team for more information on the league’s investigation, and still has not agreed to a meeting.
Lisa Banks, who represents nearly 40 former team employees, said she received a response Wednesday from Lisa Friel, the NFL’s special counsel for investigations. Banks said she first emailed Friel at the end of September, and again earlier this week.
“She sent me an email saying, 'Sorry, I’ll be in touch,' ” Banks said. “But without any substance or timing.”
The NFL did not respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY Sports.
The women want to meet with Friel and/or NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to get more details on the league’s investigation into the toxic, misogynistic atmosphere at the Washington Football Team. Banks said the NFL has been responsive in the past, and she remains hopeful that a meeting will be scheduled.
Unlike in other high-profile NFL investigations, there is no written report of independent investigator Beth Wilkinson’s findings. Instead, Friel said in July that Wilkinson gave a series of oral reports to the NFL. Friel also said individual allegations weren’t part of Wilkinson’s findings because of privacy concerns for those involved.
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But Banks said the women never asked for that, and want an explanation of why that decision was made.
“They all participated in this investigation in good faith, and it was hard for them to do it,” Banks said. “They expected at the end they’d (learn) what were the findings of the investigation and what are you going to do about it so they’d know it would have some meaning. They got nothing.
“They never asked for no report, they never asked for help or protection, so that was somewhat disingenuous,” Banks added. “They want to know why there was no written report, and what were the findings?”
The NFL is being pressed again this week to provide more information on Wilkinson’s findings after a release of emails showing former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden using racist, homophobic, misogynistic and vulgar language. The emails, reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, were between Gruden and Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team.
The emails were among 650,000 discovered by Wilkinson and her team, but they were deemed outside the investigation’s scope of workplace misconduct. According to the Times, however, Gruden and Allen exchanged photos of partially nude women, including one of two Washington cheerleaders.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL hasn't set meeting with former Washington Football Team employees
