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NFLPA members disagree over knowledge of sexual-discrimination lawsuit against Lloyd Howell before electing him: Report

NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. was accused of sexual-discrimination and retaliation in a 2011 lawsuit stemming from his time with Booz Allen, a consulting company. It's unclear whether NFLPA members were informed about that lawsuit when they elected Howell to be their next executive director in 2023, according to ESPN.

Conflicting reports have emerged over whether union members were told about the lawsuit when Howell was one of the finalists for the position in 2023. Two player representatives who voted for Howell told ESPN they don't remember the issue coming up during the election process.

"I felt really good about the process leading up to it," said one of the players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Now that all this stuff is coming out, I am like — wait a second, what happened there?"

"To find this out after we elected Lloyd is concerning; it feels like it was quashed," a different player rep told a confidant, who shared the comments with ESPN.

Two players who sat on the union's executive committee, however, claim that the lawsuit was shared with all player representatives, and that Howell was asked questions about the lawsuit in front of those player reps.

The union's executive committee was tasked with finding and vetting candidates for the executive director role. After performing that search, the executive committee presented Howell and former SAG-AFTRA executive director and chief negotiator David P. White to the 32 player reps, who elect the union leader. Howell was eventually chosen to succeed DeMaurice Smith, who served in the role from 2009 to 2023.

A member of the union's executive committee told ESPN that "full disclosures were made to everyone ... and questions were asked" regarding the lawsuit against Howell. The committee added it asked Howell questions about the lawsuit before deciding on him as a finalist, and said it was satisfied with his answers. The Committee also said it spoke with lawyers at Booz Allen and were given "the green light" to move forward with Howell.

Howell and three other executives at Booz Allen were sued by Margo Fitzpatrick, a partner at the company, who alleged "the company denied female employees leadership roles and excluded them from certain career opportunities provided to men," according to ESPN.

Fitzpatrick claimed that Howell once said the finance industry was "a good ole boys club in which only men could succeed." Fitzpatrick also claimed that Howell once asked whether two other female employees were involved with sororities because they caused "drama," per ESPN.

Fitzpatrick reported Howell to senior leadership. Fitzpatrick was later denied and promotion and fired, per her lawsuit.

The lawsuit was reportedly settled in 2015, according to ESPN. Multiple parties contacted by ESPN, including the NFLPA and Fitzpatrick, declined to comment about the situation.

Howell's position has come under question after multiple reports emerged regarding questionable decisions made by the NFLPA under his leadership. Both the NFL and NFLPA reportedly worked together to bury multiple grievance rulings, one of which suggested the league encouraged teams to collude to reduce guaranteed money given to veteran players.

Though the NFLPA lost that ruling, evidence of collusion among the owners should have been treated as a massive revelation. Instead, union leadership tried to keep the ruling from being released publicly. Both sides took the same track with a ruling revealed Thursday, in which an arbitrator found comments made by then-NFLPA president JC Tretter in 2023 violated the collective-bargaining agreement. That arbitrator was reportedly fired by the NFLPA on Wednesday, a day before the ruling was unearthed by journalists Mike Florio and Pablo Torre.

Howell also found himself under fire after it was revealed he consulted with The Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm the league has allowed to buy ownership stakes in team, while serving in his position with the NFLPA. Howell was reportedly asked to resign from his consulting role with The Carlyle Group due to a possible conflict of interest, but declined to do so.