Former Mariners employee files lawsuit alleging discrimination, wrongful termination
The Seattle Mariners former high-performance director filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Mariners this week, alleging she brought racism and discrimination allegations to team officials before her termination, according to The Seattle Times.
Dr. Lorena Martin, who served as the team’s first ever director of high performance, filed her lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that she went to team owners John Stanton and Buck Ferguson, and CEO Kevin Mather back in March to complain about alleged discriminatory treatment within the organization — countering claims from the team that she did not approach anyone before her termination last month.
The lawsuit states Mather, after hearing Martin’s complaints that she was “being treated differently’’ by general manager Jerry Dipoto, vowed to address the matter and put a stop to what Mather viewed as bullying.
According to the suit, when Martin tried to inform Stanton by telephone about her “mistreatment” that same month — without specifying whether she mentioned gender or race directly to him — he cut her off and said he didn’t handle such matters, and he added it was up to Mather and (general manager Jerry) Dipoto to address them. The suit says Stanton also told Martin she should refrain from contacting minority-owner Ferguson about her issues.
She also claimed in the lawsuit that her responsibilities were “severely curtailed” from what her contract stated, and that multiple Latino players complained to her about feeling excluded within the organization, per the report. The lawsuit also said Dipoto blamed Latino players for ruining the team’s clubhouse culture and second-half collapse last season.
The Mariners have denied her allegations and have yet to respond to the lawsuit. Major League Baseball is currently investigating.
Dr. Lorena Martin’s initial claims
Martin first claimed last month that she had seen Dipoto, Servais and McKay call Latinos “lazy, dumb and stupid, especially the Dominicans.” Per the Seattle Times, she also claims that Dipoto called her a “cocky Latina” and McKay called her “stupid” in a meeting.
She posted her accusations on social media after she was fired, and claimed that two other Dominican trainers were unfairly let go.
There was a breach of contract on the Mariners behalf – and I had reported many other discriminatory incidences to HR and other Mariners staff members throughout the season. And yes Leonardo Santiago and Jose Valdez, DR trainers were let go and not given new contracts. #truth
— Lorena Martin (@LMHighPerform) November 13, 2018
A post shared by Lorena (@lorenahighperformance) on Nov 12, 2018 at 3:27pm PST
Martin also claimed she had reported the alleged incidents to human resources, but was then placed on leave in retaliation on Oct. 10. She was then officially fired three days after her social media posts.
The Mariners, though, denied her claims last month after a “through internal review,” calling them “outrageous” and “false.” The team said she didn’t make any allegations until after she was placed on leave in October.
The lawsuit is seeking an injunction barring the team from continued discriminatory practices and ordering them to implement policies providing equal opportunities to all. She’s also seeking compensation for financial losses and full severance benefits, according to the Seattle Times.
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