Mariners’ internal review says ex-employee’s allegations were unfounded, still awaiting MLB findings
The Seattle Mariners say they’ve completed a “thorough internal review” into allegations of racism and gender discrimination made by former director of high performance Lorena Martin and determined her accusations were unfounded.
This is all according to an email from Mariners CEO John Stanton that was obtained by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on Friday. Martin made public on Monday through her Instagram and Twitter accounts, and later to The News Tribune, her accusations against general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and director of player development Andy McKay.
The Mariners, when reached on Friday, said they could not confirm internal communications.
Major League Baseball announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had launched its own investigation. Stanton wrote that the Mariners fully support MLB’s probe and that he expects its findings will be the same as the Mariners. When reached by text message on Friday night, Martin reiterated that her attorneys advised her not to speak while MLB’s investigation is ongoing.
According to The Athletic, Stanton also wrote that the Mariners are currently in the midst of evaluating their workplace conditions and “we are making strides in reshaping our workplace culture.”
Stanton expressed pride in the Mariners’ having long been known as a comfortable, safe and welcoming work environment for staff and players “of all nationalities.” However, in July, The Seattle Times reported that three top club executives were accused by women of inappropriate workplace conduct in 2009-10. Two of those executives, including current team president Kevin Mather, still work for the team, while the women making the accusations received financial settlements.
Martin told The News Tribune on Monday that she has emails proving the Mariners breached her contract, but said she wanted to speak to her attorney first before sending them. She is seeking wrongful termination.
That was just after Martin posted public complaints about Dipoto, Servais and McKay to her social media accounts and referenced specific incidents to The News Tribune.
She posted that she witnessed racist comments first hand, saying Latino players had been called “LAZY, DUMB, and STUPID, especially the DOMINICANS,” she posted.
Stanton, in the email, said Martin first made her allegations internally a week after the Mariners dismissed her on Oct. 10. But Martin said she spoke to human resources throughout the season, including after a terse meeting she recalled with Dipoto and McKay in January in Dipoto’s suite at Safeco Field (about two months after she was hired). She said there was more conflict with Servais during spring training in Peoria, Arizona.
Martin also told The News Tribune that she had other staff who could vouch for her accusations. She hadn’t responded to requests to make them available.
Stanton wrote that Martin never brought up her allegations while the team “worked for months with Dr. Martin to try to resolve concerns about her job performance and her workplace behavior.”
The Mariners on Monday issued two statements categorically denying Martin’s stories and calling them fabricated.
Here is the full text of the email from Stanton, obtained by The Athletic, which reported that it was sent to employees at 3:45 p.m. Friday (The Athletic reported that this email is the full text other than the removal of a phone number):
“The Mariners have been in the news quite a bit these last few days. As the weeks draws to a close, I wanted to give you my perspective and an update. I apologize for not reaching out sooner.
The disturbing allegations Dr. Lorena Martin leveled this week against three of our top baseball executives were shocking and totally unexpected. I want you to know that we worked for months with Dr. Martin to try to resolve concerns about her job performance and her workplace behavior. Dr. Martin never made allegations against our executives during these conversations. Unfortunately, our efforts were not successful, and on October 10, she was relieved her of her duties.
A week later, Dr. Martin made allegations of racism and sexism were raised for the first time. We took those allegations seriously and our Human Resources and Legal departments did a thorough internal review, which found there was no basis for the claims. Major League Baseball has now launched its own investigation, which we fully support. We are confident the outside review will reach the same conclusion.
The allegations against Jerry Dipoto, Scott Servais and Andy McKay are shocking because they are completely inconsistent with who they are and what the Seattle Mariners stand for. I have spent time with Jerry, Scott and Andy including two trips to the Dominican Republic and have never observed them or any of our personnel making disparaging, racist or sexist comments. Nor has anyone stepped forward to corroborate Dr. Martin’s allegations or make their own allegations against Jerry, Scott or Andy.
I’m proud that our city, organization and clubhouse have long been known as comfortable, safe and welcoming places for the employees and players of all nationalities. We have one of the most diverse teams in the MLB. Our baseball decisions are driven by a desire to draft, sign and retain as many of the best players as possible without regard for race. The same applies to the Front Office.
We have strived to cultivate, develop and support diversity among our players and our staff at all levels of our organization, and will continue to do so. We have worked hard over the years to ensure that the Mariners treat every employee fairly and with respect and dignity.
As you know, we are in the midst of an evaluation of our workplace and thanks to your feedback, we are making strides in reshaping our organization’s culture. We will have more on that process next week.
If you have a different experience here at the Mariners or have any concerns, I want to know about them. Please email me directly, reach out to Human Resources or report your concerns confidentially through the Mariners Help Line. I encourage you to share your concerns so that we can act on them and help our organization become even better.
Thank you for your hard work and positive attitude even under difficult circumstances.
John
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Internal email from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mariners</a> CEO says team did own review and found no wrongdoing in ex-employee allegations. <a href="https://t.co/xxZuC4Lb88">https://t.co/xxZuC4Lb88</a> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Internal email from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mariners</a> CEO says team did own review and found no wrongdoing in ex-employee allegations. <a href="https://t.co/xxZuC4Lb88">https://t.co/xxZuC4Lb88</a> $</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1063650669066969088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This story was originally published November 16, 2018 at 9:29 PM.
