The Golden State Warriors’ offseason has just gotten a whole lot worse. After recurring failures to sign a franchise star, an off-court legal issue has suddenly cropped up. Gender and age discrimination, workplace harassment and retaliation aren’t something you’d associate with the Bay Area franchise. But two ex-employees have sued the Warriors over allegedly disturbing experiences dating back years.

This latest lawsuit by Lisa Shelley and Jennifer Vasquez isn’t the first time Golden State has faced legal trouble over deeply concerning work conditions. But more on that later. Shelley, who goes by Lisa Meyer professionally, previously served as associate general counsel and director of business and legal affairs and risk management, and Vasquez held the role of VP of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The former employees’ lawsuit, filed on August 25 at the San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges they suffered “humiliation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and mental and physical pain and anguish.” Shelley and Vasquez are seeking damages and “permanent injunctive relief in the form of an order” to stop the alleged discriminatory pattern once and for all.

Shelley alleges her reported history with the Warriors also resulted in her losing a conditional employment offer from the Los Angeles Clippers in June this year. While the LA franchise has declined to comment, the Warriors haven’t hesitated to issue a statement on the lawsuit.

“Golden State prides itself on its commitment to maintaining an inclusive environment grounded in mutual respect and professionalism,” the Warriors said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle. “We take all workplace concerns seriously. The lawsuit filed by two former employees contains allegations that are false, misleading, and unsupported by credible evidence. Many of the allegations have been previously reviewed or investigated and found to be without merit.

“Golden State intends to vigorously defend against these baseless claims and is confident that an examination of the facts will confirm that Golden State, its leadership, and the employees targeted in this lawsuit have at all times operated with the highest levels of integrity and fairness.”

The last line addresses a big part of the lawsuit, which is especially aimed at Erin Dangerfield, formerly the Warriors’ senior vice president of people and culture.

Shelley and Vasquez’s lawsuit reveals both were “drawn” to work for the Warriors because “San Francisco is one of the most culturally diverse cities” and “a national bastion for human rights.” But what they eventually endured was allegedly far from a “culturally responsible, family-oriented environment.”

The Warriors face heat for alleged employee partiality after handing the accused a promotion after lawsuit

Lisa Shelley, who joined the Golden State organization in 2021, alleges the team looked beyond her for multiple promotion opportunities. She also claims the Warriors promoted a younger man with less work experience, despite her contributions in securing corporate partnerships worth more than $4 million.

“GSW’s promotion process requires each candidate’s photograph to be displayed to the Senior Leadership Team (“SLT”) during a closed-session vote, and employees have been denied promotion based on subjective criteria such as ‘likability’ or ‘fit’, which often translates to physical appearance and how they fit into the GSW aesthetic,” the lawsuit reads.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Vasquez joined the Warriors in January 2022. According to the complaint, Vasquez’s experience at work changed within a month, and the former exec described a workplace in which she felt a “climate of isolation and intimidation in which her ideas were routinely dismissed.”

Erin Dangerfield is a central figure in the allegations. But the timing of the lawsuit has raised a few eyebrows because just two days after the complaint was filed, the Warriors announced that Dangerfield had been promoted to chief people officer.

The issues stem back to 2025, when Dangerfield had allegedly questioned Vasquez about her answers in what was supposed to be a league-wide ‘anonymous’ employee engagement survey. Several Warriors departments, including legal, finance, accounting, and people operations, reportedly scored poorly.

Things only got more complicated thereafter…

When Shelley learned that Vasquez was questioned, she raised the issue internally and pushed for an outside investigator to look into Dangerfield’s approach and behavior. But an internal investigation ultimately determined that Dangerfield had not committed wrongdoing.

Soon after, Shelley was dismissed in December 2025 in the absence of her superior, which also violated team policy. The reason? The organization’s legal department was being “reimagined,” according to the lawsuit.

About two weeks later, Dangerfield also allegedly informed Vasquez that Golden State was eliminating its DEI function and her services were no longer required.

The allegations don’t stop there.

The lawsuit also takes aim at Warriors CFO Josh Proctor, who is accused of mocking a Latina employee. Dangerfield faces separate claims, specifically, that she repeatedly made critical comments about female employees’ appearances.

“Dangerfield told Plaintiff Vasquez that women who wanted to work in professional sports often did so because they were ‘jersey chasers,’ referring to women who sought employment in sports to pursue romantic or sexual attention from professional athletes,” the lawsuit reads.

On Thursday, attorney Justice Ojo, who is representing both former employees, filed a judicial summons in San Francisco Superior Court. From that point on, the Warriors essentially have 30 days to formally respond to the lawsuit.

This lawsuit against the Warriors is not the first time they’ve faced allegations involving workplace discrimination and retaliation. In 2018, a former senior account executive sued the organization and even received a verdict for the same in 2021.

The Warriors were once sued for allegedly failing to accommodate a former staffer’s physical and mental disabilities

Nicholas Smith admitted he had been raising concerns after returning from disability leave, including issues surrounding unpaid commissions (from June 2012 to March 2018). The Warriors failed to list a five percent Arena Debt Fund Fee on his wage statements after deducting the fee from his salary. Smith’s final settlement was also not paid to him in a timely manner after he was let go for “poor performance” via email.

According to Erlich Law Firm, “Smith alleged the team discriminated against him by failing to accommodate his physical and mental disabilities, including hernia surgeries, slipped discs, pinched nerves, anxiety and depression.”

Smith even wrote to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s office about how supervisors ignored his complaints.

The lawsuit alleged that other ticket sales employees who also complained were told by management, “If you don’t want to work here, the door is right there, guys. People are begging to work with us.”

Years later, Smith’s case was eventually closed in 2021. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California conditionally dismissed the case after being notified of a provisional settlement agreement between both parties.

This dispute, in no way, establishes the allegations in the current Shelley-Vasquez lawsuit, which remain unproven. But this suggests that the Warriors have been taken to court for workplace-related concerns in the past decade.