Following a seven-month long investigation into the workplace environment of the Dallas Mavericks, team owner Mark Cuban has agreed to donate $10 million to organizations supporting women.
The organizations deal with issues such combatting domestic violence and encouraging the hiring of women in leadership positions. Under NBA rules, the league can only fine the Mavericks and Cuban $2.5 million. The Mavericks had come under scrutiny in February of this year after a Sports Illustrated article provided details on a hostile work environment for women within the Mavericks organization. A full-fledged investigation involving interviews and review of over one million documents was subsequently conducted. The completed investigation found that fifteen women were subjected to harassment while working for the Mavericks by former CEO Terdema Ussery with the first allegation coming in 1998. The investigation uncovered incident regarding multiple employees dating back twenty years. In a statement released by the NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver stated, "The findings of the independent investigation are disturbing and heartbreaking and no employee in the NBA, or any workplace for that matter, should be subject to the type of working environment described in the report."
