A couple of days ago, Henry Abbot of True Hoop asked me to assume, for the sake of argument, that a handful of NBA players were gay and that many NBA players were anti-gay, and then examine whether the NBA, its teams, and/or executives could be vulnerable to a hostile work environment lawsuit. I opined that such a claim would be hard to prove based on what we know, and I explain why on True Hoop.
Also be sure to check out Howard's related posts on Sports Law Blog from earlier this week (2/21; 2/17).
Update on The Relevance of Title VII and Personal Jurisdiction: My good friend Paul Secunda, who blogs on Workplace Prof Blog and who is a labor and employment law professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law, e-mails me an important point that makes this type of claim even less likely: since sexual orientation is not a prohibited classification under Title VII, a gay NBA player bringing such a claim would very likely have to be employed by a team that plays its home games in one of the states or municipalities where sexual orientation discrimination is recognized--and since most states and municipalities do not recognize it, many NBA players could not bring a claim. But I asked Paul whether a player who does not play for such a team could make a personal jurisdiction argument based on the premise that all NBA teams--which are all part of joint venture called the NBA--avail themselves of the forums they travel to by playing games there, meaning a team traveling to the state of Washington (where sexual orientation is recognized) to play the Supersonics avails itself of that forum, but he does not believe that such an argument would work:
I think the answer would be the same as when you have a business traveler who spend much of the time on the road. You can engage in harassment or discrimination on the road, but the law that would apply to such situations is where the employer is located.Thanks to Paul for this comment.
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