Mariners execs faced workplace complaints; three women received settlements
In the years before he became president of the Seattle Mariners, Kevin Mather and two other top team executives were accused by women of inappropriate workplace conduct, resulting in the complainants receiving financial settlements, The Seattle Times has learned.
The complaints, which surfaced in 2009-10, roiled the organization internally, triggering reviews and staff-wide sexual-harassment seminars, The Times found after interviewing more than three dozen people who have worked within or around the Mariners organization. Along with Mather, who at the time was executive vice president of finance and ballpark operations, the complaints also involved then-team President Chuck Armstrong and then-Executive Vice President Bob Aylward.
The three women involved left their jobs. All three executives remained in their positions, and two were later promoted.
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The allegations
The complaints against top Mariners executives first surfaced in 2009.
Seattle lawyer Robin Phillips wrote to the Mariners, outlining complaints by two executive assistants aimed largely at Mather, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Two of the people said Aylward’s executive assistant complained that Mather had repeatedly rubbed her back and made suggestive comments that made her feel uncomfortable. In interviews with The Times, a former colleague of the woman recalled her taking steps to avoid interactions with Mather, and another recalled her privately expressing frustration at Mather’s interactions.
“He had been touching her back and stuff, and she wasn’t very happy about it,” the second colleague said in an interview. The person requested anonymity, fearing retaliation by the team.
Mather’s own executive assistant said he was mean and had made her uncomfortable with inappropriate jokes and comments about female colleagues in her presence, according to two people familiar with the complaint.