351 - The WNBA/Hamby Suit and its HR Implications with Kira La Forgia (Part 1)

On today's episode of the podcast I chat with HR professional Kira La Forgia about the WNBA Hamby suit and what it means for small businesses. 

HR is something that's relevant to all small businesses. Whether you have employees or contractors, you have to understand what the qualifications are for those to make sure you're legally compliant. Compliance has the biggest risk and is the baseline for not breaking laws in your legal layers of protection. 

I'm excited today to bridge the gap between my love of women's basketball and a legal scenario that makes it relevant to small business owners. There is a lawsuit currently happening where a player is currently suing the WNBA and her former team for pregnancy-related discrimination.

She filed a complaint, which is the actual term for the legal document you file with the court when you're suing someone. It outlines the facts of the case and what they're suing for. The other party responds to the complaint. This complaint is from the plaintiff's perspective, we don't have any legal documentation from the defendants, so everything in this complaint is alleged, which is important to know. This complaint is from the plaintiff's perspective, we don't have any legal documentation from the defendant. 

Kira and I go through the complaint and discuss the hypotheticals of if this happened to small business owners, how to prevent them, and how to handle the situation. 

Plaintiff Dearica Hamby, WNBA player and Olmpyian, is suing the Las Vegas Aces, WNBA champions for the last two years, as well as the WNBA itself.

In paragraphs 25 -28 the legal document highlights that the WNBA season runs from May through August, post season begins in August. On or about June 28, 2022 in the midst of the season the plaintiff signed a two-year contract to continue playing basketball with defendant, the Las Vegas Aces for the 2023 and 2024 playing seasons. 

Allegedly, in an effort to deter Hamby from entering the free agent market, the Las Vegas Aces offered, in connection with the contract extension, certain benefits and inducements outside of the contract including a donation to her daughter's school, essentially paying her daughter's tuition. 

Kira shares that the reason they would do this is not just the tax benefit to the company, but because sports teams are held to a salary cap of how much you can pay players and for the whole team so they were making every effort to keep Hamby.  They do this to avoid all the best players going to one team that can pay more than other teams. 

On or about July 18, 2022 the plaintiff discovered that she was pregnant with her second child and she informed the head coach on or about August 6, 2022. Two days later her pregnancy was confirmed by a doctor and she notified the team's general manager. September 18, the team wins their first WNBA championship in franchise history. Hamby was a starter during this game and 32 of 34 games during the season. 

Different companies require different pregnancy notification times depending on the risk you can be liable for putting people's bodies in danger. As a general rule, an HR department would need to know if anyone was divulging information that put them in what's called a protective class so they can be more cognizant that things are being done and documented correctly to not only protect the company, but also the person who needs protection. Pregnancy does fall under this. It is the worker's responsibility to have the information from their doctor based on their own circumstance, but this isn't just for pregnancy, and then the company should meet them half way to provide accommodations that are being requested based on what is needed per doctor's orders. 

In September, during the team's victory parade, Hamby announced publicly that she was pregnant. She alleges that after the announcement there were noticeable changes in the way she was treated by Las Vegas Aces staff. For example when the school tuition was due she inquired with the team and they said they were working on it. The manager told Hamby that she must vacate team-provided housing, no reason was given. In November 2022 she followed up on the tuition and it was still being figured out. In January 2023 during a call with the head coach, Hamby was asked if she has planned her pregnancy. When Hamby responded that she had not, the coach said that she was not taking proper precautions not to get pregnant. If this allegation is true, Kira shares that this is problematic because it is implying that being pregnant is a negative trait which lays the groundwork for discrimination. During this call, the coach allegedly also questioned Hamby's dedication to the team. Hamby assured her commitment to the team and said she would be ready to play for April 2023 pre-season. 

Hamby is an example of contract employment, something Kira says most small business owners are steered away from doing (at-at will employment is typically recommended)

Get in Touch with Our Guest
Kira La Forgia, Founder of Paradigm
Follow Kira on Instagram @theparadigmm
Listen to Kira's podcast, On the Up and Up