Basketball Star, Team Charged With Sexual Harassment

The Associated Press reported on December 22, 2011, that Golden State Warriors star guard Monta Ellis, as well as Warriors management, were the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former employee.  Erika Ross Smith, formerly of the team’s community relations department, alleged in her lawsuit that in November 2010, Ellis began sending her explicit text messages, sometimes as frequently as several times a day.  Ellis also sent Smith pictures of his genitalia via text message.  The lawsuit alleges that when Ellis’s wife, Juanika Ellis, learned of the text messages, she complained to team executives, who changed Smith’s job description and eventually fired her.

Smith alleges retaliation, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seeks unspecific damages.  “On a micro level, my client has endured unwanted harassment, has suffered and continues to suffer emotional distress and trauma,” her attorney, Burt Boltuch, said at a news conference in his Oakland office. “On a macro level, this type of conduct, especially in the sports world, must stop.”  Boltuch went on to say that his client “was embarrassed. She was intimidated. She felt scared and helpless.”

For their part, the Warriors deny the allegations, saying Ellis and Smith had a “consensual relationship.”  Their chief operating officer, Rick Welts, also said that “The Warriors have never taken any action against the Plaintiff for any inappropriate reason, and we deny the allegations she is making.”

Debra S. Katz, a partner at the Washington, DC-based employment law firm of Katz, Marshall & Banks who specializes in sexual harassment law, said that the reaction to these sorts of charges in the sports world is particularly insidious.  “What you see time and time again is women coming forward with claims against professional athletes, and not only being publicly humiliated, but oftentimes being blacklisted from continuing with their career as they knew it,” said Katz.  “It means that the women that do choose to come forward and speak out should be given an enormous amount of credit.  They have a lot to lose.”