The Blackhawks have been no stranger to the legal spotlight in the last few years. From the viral Kyle Beach scandal that surfaced in 2021 to the more recent Corey Perry investigation last season, the team’s lawyers have been working overtime.
In a story released late Tuesday night, it became apparent that the Blackhawks once again have their work cut out for them. According to CBS News, a Native American woman who worked for the Chicago Blackhawks, is suing the organization for an alleged breach of oral contract, fraud and sexual harassment. A scuffle that began over the merits of the team’s name quickly transformed into grave accusations, each of which has been heavily disputed, to say the least.
Throughout the last several years, sports franchises have faced societal pressure to change their identities. The issue finally reached its boiling point in 2020-21, when the Washington football team and the Cleveland baseball team each changed their names, mascots and logos. However, the Blackhawks held strong, arguing that they were honoring war leader Black Hawk.
In 2020, Chicago hired Nina Sanders as a contractor to “help build relationships with the Native American community,” CBS News said. Before she accepted the job, she called the team’s likeness “racist” and “offensive”. According to Sanders, she was responsible for arranging a meeting between team CEO Danny Wirtz and leaders of the Sac and Fox Nation, Black Hawk’s tribe.
“She said based on her conversations with him, she believed the team would change the logo and she told the community that too. But months later, in August 2021, the team and the Sac and Fox Nation formed a partnership. The tribe then reversed its stance on the logo, and passed a new resolution proclaiming support of the Chicago Blackhawks’ use of it.” – CBS News
As a result, Sanders said she felt “used” by the organization. No longer working with the team, she now alleges the above charges, “among other allegations.”
The lawsuit reads that Sanders was sexually harassed in 2022 by a man working with the Blackhawks, including alleged “inappropriate sexual advances,” touching her “without her consent,” and sending unwanted “sexually explicit videos of him.” CBS News also reports that she verbally reported two other incidents of women being groped at Blackhawks events.
While Sanders alleges she complained about these incidents to her supervisor, the team provided a response to the allegations that told a different story.
The team said that after a thorough investigation, they “found insufficient evidence to substantiate her claims. Of note, the persons identified by Ms. Sanders in your question are not, and have never been, independent contractors with nor employees of the Chicago Blackhawks.”
After Sanders warned Chicago last year that the lawsuit would be coming, the team’s attorneys told her lawyers that she only made the allegations after they chose not to renew her contract.
