Several New York Mets employees say their complaints about inappropriate behavior in the workplace were not acted upon, according to a report by The Athletic.
The report also details allegations of misconduct or sexual harassment by David Newman – the Mets’ head of marketing, content and communications who was hired by the team last year – and former marketing director Joe DeVito. .
More than a dozen people, men and women, told The Athletic that Holly Lindvall, senior vice president of human resources and diversity at Mets, was aware of allegations of language harassment and actions without action being taken against the perpetrators, complaints that included sexist comments from former owner Jeff Wilpon and ex-manager Mickey Callaway. People told Athletic that they felt Lindvall would rather keep the property happy than investigate their complaints.
“It was clear that his interest was to protect the property and executives and not the office in general,” a former employee told Athletic. “You couldn’t go to HR to feel protected, comfortable, anything.”
Newman, accused of making inappropriate comments about women’s appearances while on the team from 2005 to 2018, told Athletic that he did not remember making those comments. Newman was hired back to his current position in November.
DeVito allegedly sent inappropriate text messages to women and gave a woman a back rub. He resigned in March, saying he wanted to reevaluate his career, but told Athletic in an email that he “will not dignify the accusations he hears with an answer except to say I’ve always tried to be a gentleman with everyone. with whom I work and with whom I am personally related “.
Team president Sandy Alderson, who hired Newman, told Athletic that the interpretation of how the Mets handled the allegations was unfair.
“Let me try to make a point as strong as I can, okay? Not all instances related to men and women in the workplace are a capital offense, okay? Every time something happens, you don’t want to to say someone needs to be fired. ” Alderson told Athletic. “There are many intermediate steps that can be done and we have done it in several different cases. We have included the death penalty as a consequence in some cases, but not all cases reach the level of execution. And that is what I sincerely believe. what is happening with these articles “.
Complaints are part of a continuing pattern of inappropriate behavior within the Mets organization. Other people named in previous allegations include former CEO Jared Porter, who was fired in January for explicit texts and images sent to a journalist; former performance coordinator Ryan Ellis, who was also fired in January for lax comments; and Callaway, who was accused of sending inappropriate text messages, among other actions.
Lindvall defended how the Mets have handled the complaints.
“We have always had a strict policy that prohibits harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and we have thoroughly and objectively investigated all complaints that came to our attention,” Lindvall wrote in an email to The Athletic. “When our investigation confirmed that misconduct had occurred, we have always taken prompt and appropriate action to address it.”
In March, owner Steve Cohen announced in an email to the entire team that he had hired a law firm to investigate the Mets workplace culture, focusing on sexual harassment, bad conduct and discrimination issues. The Athletic previously obtained a copy of this email.