Ex-employee sues Ducks, NHL for sexual harassment and discrimination

A former Ducks and NHL employee is suing the team and league for discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation that she says occurred while she worked for the defendants from 2022 to 2025.

Technician Rose Harris filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the Southern District of New York in which she claims she “witnessed and experienced repeated and uncontrolled sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination” while working for the Ducks and the NHL.

“This included non-consensual and sexualized touching; almost constant vulgar, sexist and derogatory comments, including homophobic slurs, discriminatory remarks about gender, women and LGBTQ+ people; obscene pornography on a co-worker’s work computer; and disturbing comments about the way Harris and other employees dressed, including that women dressed like ‘whores,'” the complaint states.

The Ducks’ parent company, OC Sports & Entertainment, and NHL senior vice president and chief human resources officer Patrice Distler are also named as co-defendants.

The Ducks declined to comment for this article. The Times contacted the NHL and OCSE and did not receive immediate responses.

Harris is seeking unspecified damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses.

According to the complaint, Harris worked for the Ducks’ IT department from July 2022 to December 2024. During that time, the filing says, two of her male co-workers spread false stories that they had had sex with her.

Additionally, the complaint states, “Harris was repeatedly forced to hear about her co-workers’ alleged sexual relationships and was harassed with increasingly invasive questions about her own sex life and sexuality.” »

He adds: “It was all part of the fraternity boys club environment that the Anaheim Ducks and OCSE fostered in the workplace. »

Harris and other female employees were also not given the same access to parts of the team’s facilities as their male counterparts, according to the lawsuit.

Harris initially did not report the alleged inappropriate behavior for fear of retaliation, according to the lawsuit, and was called by the Ducks and OCSE as a witness after another female employee made a report of sexual harassment within the company. That’s when Harris reported “the sexual harassment and discrimination she experienced” to human resources.

“HR did nothing to meaningfully address the harassment or discipline the harassers,” the complaint states, and “the harassment and discrimination continued.”

According to the filing, Harris then suffered retaliation.

“This meant a significantly increased workload and responsibilities, with training, meetings, and assignments that exceeded all of her regular duties, all while her title and compensation remained the same. Ducks HR even told Harris that if she wanted to advance, she would have to look elsewhere.”

Harris accepted a position as head of SaaS technologies at the NHL’s New York offices and began work on Jan. 7, 2025. But her employment there lasted less than a month, according to the lawsuit, after “the OCSE and the Ducks exposed her as a victim of sexual harassment and an adverse witness in a confidential legal proceeding against a league franchise.”

“The NHL and Distler wanted Harris gone, but they had no legitimate reason to fire her,” the complaint states. “So the top brass at the NHL set about making one.”

According to the filing, “Distler falsely accused Harris of hacking her emails – a crime – and fired her on the spot. »

The lawsuit also accuses the Ducks, the OCSE and the NHL of working “to blacklist Harris from any career in professional sports.”