Less than a week after the NBA gave then Suns owner Robert Sarver an underwhelming “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 program manager of diversity, equity and inclusion to help turn the corporate culture around.
That hire, Andrea Trischan, has now filed a complaint seeking $60 million in damages for “discrimination and wrongful termination,” reports Baxter Holmes at ESPN.
“Ms. Trischan 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 have denied the charges.
“A former employee who last worked for the organization in 2023 was terminated after less than 10 months due to repeated failure to perform her job duties,” Suns and Mercury senior vice president of communications Stacey Mitch told ESPN. “This individual filed a baseless charge with a state agency and is now trying to use ESPN reporting from 2022, specific to previous ownership, to make egregious claims in order to support her ridiculous demand for $60 million from the Suns organization.”
Sarver eventually caved to pressure — once sponsors started backing out 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 franchised valued at $4 billion for the sale).
Trischan says she was blocked from doing her job and harassed when she did. For example, when a December 22 story by ESPN 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 noted this and began to investigate 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 job did not include investigations of past issues.
The complaint was filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Arizona Attorney General’s office’s civil rights division, and the AG will investigate. The Suns say they will cooperate because the investigation will find nothing.
