In-House Counsel
NFL Players Association fires attorney who sued union over retaliation, sex discrimination
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, center, accompanied by NFL Players Association attorney Heather McPhee, arrives for his appeal hearing at NFL headquarters in New York in 2015.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The NFL Players Association has fired an associate general counsel who sued the union’s leaders for alleged retaliation after she agreed to participate in a federal probe into their financial activities.
Heather McPhee said in a court document filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington that the NFL Players Association fired her on Dec. 30, the Athletic reports. Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a lawsuit against the union, former executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. and senior executives Tom DePaso and Matthew Curtin for conspiring to prevent her from serving as a witness for the U.S. Department of Justice in its investigation into potential misconduct by professional sports union leaders.
A spokesperson for the NFL Players Association told the Athletic the union could not comment on the firing of McPhee, who has been in her role since 2009.
McPhee, who agreed to participate in the federal investigation in May, began raising internal concerns to NFL Players Association leaders in November 2024 over an incentive plan involving the union and a licensing venture co-owned by several sports unions that would have paid millions of dollars to senior union leaders, the Athletic reports.
In her lawsuit, McPhee alleged NFL Players Association officials forced her to take paid administrative leave in August because of “workplace behavior,” the Athletic reports. DePaso once criticized her for “making trouble” and being “too intense and emotional,” McPhee also alleged.
In addition to retaliation, McPhee accused union leaders of sex discrimination and breach of fiduciary duty, the Athletic reports. She is seeking $10 million in damages.
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