Professional football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon denied accusations of sexual harassment by a woman who was an executive assistant to the former National Football League player at the sports marketing firm he co-founded.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Orange County, California, Moon required Wendy Haskell to share his bed during business trips, wear lingerie and made unwanted sexual advances while she worked as his executive assistant at Sports 1 Marketing.
The lawsuit claims that Haskell traveled with Moon on an almost weekly basis during her employment and that he made her stay in his hotel room and share his bed.
Haskell alleges she was required to keep the bathroom door unlocked when she showered and that Moon repeatedly entered the room. She also claims that Moon grabbed her inappropriately while she was sleeping and slipped a drug into her drink during a trip to Mexico in October because he thought she was not “having fun.”
The lawsuit also claims Haskell reported Moon’s behavior to the company’s chief executive, David Meltzer, in October but they did not investigate her claims. Haskell also says she was demoted after making the complaints. She is still employed by the company.
Moon, who played professionally in Canada before going on to star in the NFL, is the co-founder and president of the Irvine, California-based company, which was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
”Wendy Haskell made the decision to right a giant wrong,“ her attorney, Diana Fitzgerald, told Reuters late Wednesday in a telephone interview from Miami. ”She now joins a growing group of valiant women who have decided essentially enough is enough.
Despite spending his first six professional seasons in the CFL, Moon was third all-time in NFL passing yardage and fourth in touchdown passes at the time of his retirement in 2001. Five years later he became the first black quarterback to gain induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.