Cuban, Mavericks on a legal hot seat

It took Under Armour less than two months to part ways with a high-profile employee, Terdema Ussery, after a coworker complained of sexual harassment.

The Dallas Mavericks kept Ussery employed for almost two decades at the highest level despite multiple complaints of his behavior to human resources, according to a Sports Illustrated investigation.

Owner Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks became the latest high-profile entity caught in the #MeToo movement as Sports Illustrated painted a disturbing pattern of sexual misconduct within the organization. Ussery, the former team president, reportedly told a female employee that he envisioned her being “gang banged” over a weekend, among other similar episodes.

Ussery denied such actions to SI, but these types of complaints were brought to the Mavericks’ human relations department by multiple female employees. After Under Armour received a complaint about Ussery, they removed him.

“It really shows two different approaches in Corporate America,” said Jason Smith, a Fort Worth-based employment lawyer who won the first sexual harassment jury verdict in Tarrant County in 1999. “One is we’re not going to stand for sexual harassment (like Under Armour). The other is we’re going to let those in power get away with it and turn a blind eye (like the Mavericks).”