Former employee sues Ducks, NHL for harassment, discrimination

The NHL and Anaheim Ducks were named in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a former employee who says she faced sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination from 2022 to 2025 while working for both defendants.

The plaintiff, Rose Harris, was hired as an IT Coordinator in July 2022 by OC Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Ducks, their AHL affiliate in San Diego and the Honda Center Arena. Harris says she was subjected to “repeated and unchecked” harassment and bullying that included “nonconsensual sexualized touching, near constant vulgar, sexist and derogatory comments, including homophobic slurs.”

In the lawsuit, Harris says that Nick Aguilera, formerly with the OCSE public relations team, subjected her to unwanted physical contact and jokes. She also says Aguilera told other PR staffers he and Harris were in a sexual relationship, and those parties made further derogatory remarks to her. Harris also says the Ducks’ equipment managers harassed her with derogatory remarks, with one also allegedly telling other employees that he and Harris were in a sexual relationship.

In the filing, Harris says she told OCSE human resources about the alleged harassment and was told “more likely than not” that some of the company’s policies had been breached in these interactions. Per the lawsuit, HR reportedly did nothing to stop them from reoccurring, and Harris eventually resigned in December 2024 before taking another job in IT with the NHL’s front office in New York beginning in January 2025.

Harris also says that OCSE conspired to have her terminated by the league. She says that once it was known she’d begun working for the NHL’s front office, someone at her former employer told Patrice Distler, NHL senior vice president and chief human resources officer, that Harris was a “sexual harassment victim and adverse witness to a confidential legal proceeding” against OCSE and the Ducks. That filing was made by Harris’ former colleague Katherine Pearson about Peason’s own alleged harassment while employed in Anaheim.

Harris says that after the NHL was informed of this, she was purposely assigned an IT ticket to work on Distler’s email. Shortly thereafter, Harris said Distler accused her of hacking her email and fired her immediately.

The suit says the NHL never produced any documentation of the hacking and that Harris’ electronics were all given back to Distler directly.

Harris also says that the NHL and OCSE continued to “blacklist” her around the industry and have made it impossible for her to secure employment in the sports world. She is seeking punitive damages.

“When a qualified professional is allegedly blacklisted for doing the right thing, it sends a message to every woman working in sports: keep your head down or lose your livelihood,” said Harris’ attorney Shane Seppinni. “We’re bringing this case to prove that the NHL cannot retaliate against women to protect its own ‘old boys club.'”

ESPN reached out to the NHL and OCSE for comment about Harris’ lawsuit but did not receive a reply.