Attorneys for two NFL entities and a former NFL Enterprises LLC director who sued alleging age and gender discrimination are in ongoing settlement talks and the scheduled June trial has been postponed until the fall in order to facilitate their efforts, according to new court papers.
Plaintiff Jennifer Love maintains she experienced “pervasive sexism” in the workplace and that a “boys’ club” mentality existed among her male peers, while attributing her 2022 layoff to retaliation for her complaints. The Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed in April 2023 alleges retaliation, hostile work environment and failure to prevent and/or remedy discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation.
But on Thursday, Judge Rupert A. Byrdsong signed an order delaying the scheduled start of trial from June 16 to Oct. 13 in the wake of joint papers filed by Love and attorneys for NFL Enterprises LLC and NFL Properties LLC. In the filing, the lawyers tell the judge that both sides “engaged in mediation on (Jan. 14) in an attempt to resolve plaintiff’s claims in this action and are currently engaging in ongoing settlement discussions through the neutral mediator, including the written exchange of settlement terms.”
The additional time will allow the parties to “complete settlement discussions through the mediator,” according to the attorneys’ pleadings.
In their previous court papers, the NFL entities have denied all of Love’s allegations and say they are barred by the statute of limitations. They also say that any management actions involving Love were lawful and based upon the defendants’ “legitimate economic and business interests and the exercise of legitimate managerial discretion.”
The defense attorneys say Love’s case should be dismissed and that she should “take nothing by her complaint.”
According to Love’s complaint, she was hired by the NFL in June 2003 and together with coordinating producer Eric Weinberger and president and CEO Steve Bornstein, the trio launched what was then known as the NFL Network and is now known as NFL Media Group.
“With Love’s hard work and leadership, NFL Media Group grew to become the successful media platform that it is today,” according to the suit.
In 2010, NFL promoted Love to vice president and coordinating director in recognition of the high level of work she performed at the NFL Media Group, the same year David Shaw was brought aboard as vice president of media operations, the suit states. In 2011, the league hired Mark Quenzel as senior vice president of programming and production.
“Shaw and Quenzel quickly gained reputations among NFL employees as misogynist men who refused to recognize or value female employees — especially female employees with authority like Love,” the suit states.
Shaw, Quenzel and NFL Properties LLC also are defendants in the suit. The two male executives made it clear that they did not want to have anything to do with Love and would not talk to her unless necessary and would not acknowledge her presence at meetings, the suit states. At leadership meetings, in production trucks and in control rooms, Quenzel said “hello” to everyone except for Love, who was often the only woman in the room, according to the suit.
Still, NFL Media Group, with Love’s help, expanded from about 11.5 million homes in 2003 to more than 72 million homes by 2013, the suit states. Even when Quenzel subsequently became Love’s direct supervisor, he would not acknowledge her and excluded her from NFL Media Group’s senior-level content and planning meetings in which she had previously been included, the suit alleges.
In 2018, Love reported to human resources that the NFL had an issue with “pervasive sexism” in the workplace and had a “boys’ club” mentality, citing how a less qualified man was promoted over her, but no one followed up on her complaints, the plaintiff alleges.
“Instead, NFL continued to permit Quenzel and Shaw to discriminate against women and Love with impunity and to treat Love with disrespect and disregard in front of her peers,” the suit states.
In early 2022, Love made comments via Bleacher Report that “We’ve only scratched the surface” of the problem of discrimination at NFL and “have a long way to go,” remarks of which the NFL was aware, according to the suit.
Love attended what she believed was to be a meeting about in March 2022 via Zoom and was “shocked” to hear Quenzel and a human resources employee tell her that her position at NFL was being eliminated, according to the suit, which further states neither person thanked her for her 19 years of service. Love maintains she lost her job in retaliation for her complaints.
Quenzel replaced Love with a much younger female employee whom the plaintiff herself had mentored and trained, the suit states.