Cheerleaders are told not to dine in the same restaurant as players, or speak to them in any detail. “If the cheerleaders can’t contact the players, then the players shouldn’t be able to contact the cheerleaders,” said Sara Blackwell, Davis’s lawyer. In past cases focusing on unfair pay for the cheerleaders, the league successfully asserted that cheerleaders were employees of the team rather than the league, so the N.F.L. She denied being at the party, and the team told her it had no evidence she was there. But in filing her discrimination case, she said she wanted the team to help other cheerleaders by forcing the team to change its rules so all employees were treated equally.

Source: New York Times March 25, 2018 21:11 UTC