Dearica Hamby files Federal Lawsuit against Aces, WNBA

[MrDollarBills]

Three-time WNBA All-Star and recent Olympic bronze medal winner Dearica Hamby filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the WNBA and the Las Vegas Aces, her former team, alleging discrimination and retaliation over Hamby's pregnancy.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and claims Hamby suffered "a loss of reputational prestige and brand value" and "loss of marketing and/or endorsement opportunities" after the Aces traded her to the Los Angeles Sparks in January 2023. The lawsuit is seeking damages through a jury trial.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2024/08/12/dearica-hamby-lawsuit-wnba-las-vegas-aces-pregnancy/74773847007/


Good!!! The league should have laid the hammer down on the Aces when this happened and didn't. Now they'll have to pay. I hope the payout is substantial.

No player should be treated poorly because of a natural life event. Your career shouldn't be trashed because you become a mother.

Shame on Cathy, and shame on the Aces.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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[MrDollarBills]

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There should be serious consequences for all of this. Player abuse, lies, outright cap circumventing....and yet the league got mad when the Liberty wanted to give their players chartered flights for their own safety?

I won't go as far as to call for Cathy to resign, but this is beyond the pale.

[MrDollarBills]

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No one should be treated this way.

There should be some sort of exemption list to where if a player becomes a mother, that year doesn't count against their contract and the team gets an exception under the cap for their roster spot.

The league better be careful. Skylar Diggins-Smith was also treated like garbage by the Mercury when she got pregnant with her 2nd child. I hope she's now talking to a lawyer.

[G R E Y]

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No one should be treated this way.

There should be some sort of exemption list to where if a player becomes a mother, that year doesn't count against their contract and the team gets an exception under the cap for their roster spot.

The league better be careful. Skylar Diggins-Smith was also treated like garbage by the Mercury when she got pregnant with her 2nd child. I hope she's now talking to a lawyer.

In fairness this is one side of the suit, but there's more of the exchanges on that person's Twitter account and they are damning from top down. Just seems like there's a culture of intimidation to silence and those with power either got in over their heads or just felt immune. It's hugely disappointing if it turns out any of this was true but better to establish clear boundaries now than to allow this to fester.

Brave of Hamby to call it out, taking on a coach, team, and league like that.

[sikma42]

I’ve said this from the beginning. The Aces players are wack for the way they handled this situation. This goes specifically to the comments from Aja, Plum and Parker.

When they were in a situation to step up and do the right thing you were silent. These are the situations that bring out character.

Specifically, the more I see Aja Wilson, the less I like.

Goes without saying that Becky Hammond is horrible, but I expected better from the players.


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[MrDollarBills]

More oof...

Read on Twitter

No one should be treated this way.

There should be some sort of exemption list to where if a player becomes a mother, that year doesn't count against their contract and the team gets an exception under the cap for their roster spot.

The league better be careful. Skylar Diggins-Smith was also treated like garbage by the Mercury when she got pregnant with her 2nd child. I hope she's now talking to a lawyer.

In fairness this is one side of the suit, but there's more of the exchanges on that person's Twitter account and they are damning from top down. Just seems like there's a culture of intimidation to silence and those with power either got in over their heads or just felt immune. It's hugely disappointing if it turns out any of this was true but better to establish clear boundaries now than to allow this to fester.

Brave of Hamby to call it out, taking on a coach, team, and league like that.

Yes, very true. It's easy to read the filing and get very upset, which I did, but you're right. We do need to wait for the discovery process.

It's just very disappointing, I've been following Becky since college and her days on the Liberty, i have a ton of respect for her, so reading the full extent of this was a gut punch.

[MrDollarBills]

I’ve said this from the beginning. The Aces players are wack for the way they handled this situation. This goes specifically to the comments from Aja, Plum and Parker.

When they were in a situation to step up and do the right thing you were silent. These are the situations that bring out character.

Specifically, the more I see Aja Wilson, the less I like.

Goes without saying that Becky Hammond is horrible, but I expected better from the players.


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I can't begin to express my level of disappointment in everyone here, A'ja included.

Candace, who is a mother herself, being involved is just beyond words. This should be one of those instances where the players needed to circle the wagons and speak up. I need to hear from all of them because how they respond to this will say a lot about them.

It sucks but frankly, for the WNBA to really move forward, stuff like this needs to get brought out into the light and rectified. We need policies in place to protect expecting mothers. I'm not saying that a team has to pay them for missing a year, although some sort of maternity leave stipend would be cool, but they shouldn't be punished for a natural life process.

Jason Tatum just had his 2nd child. He's not being intimidated or abused because of it. Why are his female counterparts being treated this way?

[Hornet Mania]

The WNBA didn't interview any Aces players during their investigation??? That is pretty damning all by itself. It's easy to find no wrongdoing if you don't bother to ask.

I hope this case forces the W into treating pregnant players with dignity. I understand it's tough to hear one of your stars is opting out of a year of her athletic prime but it's not as if employees having babies is a totally unforeseen aspect of women in the work force. This sort of thing needs to be worked out with clear guidelines that protect the mothers from harassment and retribution by their employer.

[dockingsched]

I know it’s only one side of the story reading the suit details, but unless Hamby is just completely fabricating everything, it’s so damning. Helps her that the league already felt it was enough to suspend Hammon and strip their first, we’ll see what else happens. Obstacle might be it’s a lot of stuff like conversations that can’t be proven.

[Wingy]

Yikes. Somewhat recently wrote a post about how awesome the Aces are. I suppose that’s still true for the players and their culture (unless it turns out they didn’t support DH, and were somehow complicit…that would be some level of ding), but the org’s name is mud, and sounds like maybe Becky’s as well (saw some calls for her to be next team USA coach, but prob not anymore).

[theforumblue]

hammond sounds like she talks to players like she's still a player herself, which is both good and bad. gotta learn.

[MrDollarBills]

The WNBA didn't interview any Aces players during their investigation??? That is pretty damning all by itself. It's easy to find no wrongdoing if you don't bother to ask.

I hope this case forces the W into treating pregnant players with dignity. I understand it's tough to hear one of your stars is opting out of a year of her athletic prime but it's not as if employees having babies is a totally unforeseen aspect of women in the work force. This sort of thing needs to be worked out with clear guidelines that protect the mothers from harassment and retribution by their employer.

Your first paragraph is what made me immediately think that Cathy should resign if this is true. That sounds like a cover up attempt.

And yeah I agree. Women in the workforce having children isn't anything new. How in the hell are we at this point where there are no maternity guidelines in the league?

This has been a historic year for the league and we've already seen changes happen for the better. I hope that this spurs the league into making sure that expecting mothers are not only protected, but not isolated from their teams like how the Mercury did to Skylar.

Like these people are mad that someone chose to have a child. Who is running this league again?

[MrDollarBills]

Yikes. Somewhat recently wrote a post about how awesome the Aces are. I suppose that’s still true for the players and their culture (unless it turns out they didn’t support DH, and were somehow complicit…that would be some level of ding), but the org’s name is mud, and sounds like maybe Becky’s as well (saw some calls for her to be next team USA coach, but prob not anymore).

I was one of those people. But if these claims are proven true in court, I wouldn't trust her anywhere near any team, nevermind the Olympics

[ellobo]

The WNBA didn't interview any Aces players during their investigation??? That is pretty damning all by itself. It's easy to find no wrongdoing if you don't bother to ask.

I hope this case forces the W into treating pregnant players with dignity. I understand it's tough to hear one of your stars is opting out of a year of her athletic prime but it's not as if employees having babies is a totally unforeseen aspect of women in the work force. This sort of thing needs to be worked out with clear guidelines that protect the mothers from harassment and retribution by their employer.

Hamby did not miss a single game due to her pregnancy. She announced her pregnancy after the Aces won the championship in 2022, and after she was traded to the Sparks she began training camp on time and played in all 40 games in 2023.

[Wingy]

I was one of those people. But if these claims are proven true in court, I wouldn't trust her anywhere near any team, nevermind the Olympics

Ha, yeah I remembered, and it made total sense from a basketball standpoint.

This feels like it’s headed toward disappointment though. One of the bright coaching stars in the WNBA, and one many prob still had hopes might someday break down barriers on the men’s side. I mean, we’ll see, but that’s the gut feeling I get.

[Hornet Mania]

The WNBA didn't interview any Aces players during their investigation??? That is pretty damning all by itself. It's easy to find no wrongdoing if you don't bother to ask.

I hope this case forces the W into treating pregnant players with dignity. I understand it's tough to hear one of your stars is opting out of a year of her athletic prime but it's not as if employees having babies is a totally unforeseen aspect of women in the work force. This sort of thing needs to be worked out with clear guidelines that protect the mothers from harassment and retribution by their employer.

Hamby did not miss a single game due to her pregnancy. She announced her pregnancy after the Aces won the championship in 2022, and after she was traded to the Sparks she began training camp on time and played in all 40 games in 2023.

Thanks for the correction. That makes the Aces stance seem even worse. What is there to even be upset about if she's back on the job as soon as the next season starts?

[MrDollarBills]

The WNBA didn't interview any Aces players during their investigation??? That is pretty damning all by itself. It's easy to find no wrongdoing if you don't bother to ask.

I hope this case forces the W into treating pregnant players with dignity. I understand it's tough to hear one of your stars is opting out of a year of her athletic prime but it's not as if employees having babies is a totally unforeseen aspect of women in the work force. This sort of thing needs to be worked out with clear guidelines that protect the mothers from harassment and retribution by their employer.

Hamby did not miss a single game due to her pregnancy. She announced her pregnancy after the Aces won the championship in 2022, and after she was traded to the Sparks she began training camp on time and played in all 40 games in 2023.

This makes Las Vegas look even worse.