House Oversight Committee invites Dan Snyder, Roger Goodell to testify at hearing

The owner of the Washington Commanders and the commissioner of the National Football League have been asked to testify.

The chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy sent letters to the other.

The hostile workplace culture of the Commanders has been investigated by the Committee on Oversight and Reform. The June 22 hearing will examine the role of the NFL in setting and enforcing standards across the League, as well as legislative reforms needed to address these issues across the NFL and other workplaces.

The goal of the Committee has been to uncover the truth about the culture of harassment and abuse at the Washington Commanders, to hold accountable those responsible, and to better protect workers across the country. We need to have transparency and accountability, which is why we are calling on the two men to answer the questions they have dodged for the last seven months. The hearing will explore how Congress can act to prevent employers from silence victims of workplace harassment and ensure that what happened at the Commanders organization does not happen again.

The Committee has been stonewalled for seven months. The Committee wants to know how the NFL addressed the issues of pervasive workplace misconduct at the Washington Commanders, and how Mr. Snyder and Mr. Goodell responded to them.

The Commanders were fined $10 million by the NFL in June of last year for their workplace culture. In October of last year, Maloney and Krishnamoorthi sent a letter to the commissioner requesting all documents related to the investigation. The full report on the investigation will not be released to protect the anonymity of the people who cooperated with the investigation.

The Washington Post reported last November that the owner of the business had been accused of sexual harassment by a woman. A $1.6 million settlement was paid to the woman. The league's investigation was not hindered by the man.

At a congressional roundtable in February, a former employee of the team accused him of touching her without her consent at a work dinner 13 years ago. She denied her allegations. The allegations are being investigated by the NFL.

In April, the Committee on Oversight and Reform sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and several attorney generals accusing the Commanders of failing to return security deposits, concealing revenue and keeping two sets of financial books. The allegations of financial improprieties were made by a former employee who met with members of the committee as part of its investigation into the team's workplace culture.

The Commanders denied the allegations. The Virginia attorney general's office will open an investigation into the allegations.