In the weeks since Florida lawyer Sara Blackwell filed a charge against the New Orleans Saints claiming that workplace rules for cheerleaders were discriminatory, more women have come forward and fueled a conversation about alleged gender bias in professional sports.

Blackwell brought the claim against the New Orleans football team in March on behalf of Bailey Davis, a former cheerleader. Davis, according to her complaint, was terminated because of an Instagram post that showed her wearing a one-piece bathing suit, an apparent violation of the team's rules. There were also rumors she'd attended a party where football players were in attendance, another alleged violation of a rule that prohibits the cheering squad from socializing with the team's members.

Blackwell said she pitched Davis' story to The New York Times to coincide with the complaint filed at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Davis and her parents initially asked Blackwell for advice to determine if she did, in fact, violate the terms of her contract with the Saints. Blackwell, digging into the workplace rules, determined the restrictions created a risk for the women of losing their jobs that the football players did not have. The cheerleader could be fired for fraternizing with players and were unable to promote themselves on social media.

“I sat down with Bailey and her family and I said, 'It doesn't matter if it was lingerie or not. It's irrelevant—the actual rule itself is discriminatory,” Blackwell recalled in a recent interview with The National Law Journal.

➤➤ Get employment law news and commentary straight to your in-box with Labor of Law, a new Law.com briefing. Learn more and sign up here.

Before starting her own firm, Blackwell had stints both in government and management firms. She worked as a law clerk for a federal court judge, as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana and as an employment attorney for Lynch & Robbins; Cole, Scott & Kissane; and Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen.

Blackwell, now an employment attorney based in Sarasota, Florida, spends most of her time in advocacy, not the courtroom, through her work with the group Protect US Workers. The group focuses on outsourcing of foreign workers by large companies.

She said her work in that realm gave her connections with major media outlets. Media exposure helped launch the #MeToo movement.

Written and unwritten imbalances exist for women across industries and professional environments, Blackwell said. She insists that workplace fairness, and not compensation, is driving her advocacy.

“I'm the worst lawyer when it comes to making money. What we're looking for is equality and fairness,” she said. “I won't take clients that don't have the same goal. If a cheerleader says she wants to make a billion dollars from this, I would probably find them someone else.”

Blackwell hopes the National Football League will agree to the terms of the settlement she is drafting valued at $1 for her client in addition to upending rules that preclude cheerleaders from promoting themselves on social media and from interacting with players in social settings.

A lawyer for the Saints, Leslie Lanusse of Adams and Reese, told the NYT in March: “The Saints organization strives to treat all employees fairly, including Ms. Davis. At the appropriate time and in the appropriate forum, the Saints will defend the organization's policies and workplace rules. For now, it is sufficient to say that Ms. Davis was not subjected to discrimination because of her gender.”

She is also now representing a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader in her complaint, filed with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, and has heard from other cheerleaders who have told her they had similar cases, but said they signed nondisclosure agreements.

The New Orleans Saints said the photo Davis posted to her Instagram account was a prohibited image. But Blackwell contends there are no social media limitations on the football players themselves. Cheerleaders are expected to have private accounts and cannot say they work for the team, according to Davis' complaint.

Blackwell is focusing on the legal issues, trying to prove that similarly situated men and women are treated differently by the rules enforced by the team.

“The teams basically say, 'You should be grateful because a million other girls will take your spot,'” she said. “[Davis] didn't want to lose her job. She loved being a cheerleader and she did accept the rules. But those rules were awful. She accepted them because she felt that if she complained she'd be fired.”

In the course of her investigation, Blackwell said she discovered that most cheerleaders appear to sign arbitration agreements that include class action waivers.

“Everyone asks, 'Why are you the first to bring this kind of suit, if it's been going on. The fact is, I don't think I am. I am just the first one to come public,” Blackwell said. “These NDAs have kept it quiet.”

Arbitration is widespread in the United States. Recent research from the Economic Policy Institute estimates that about half of private sector employees sign mandatory arbitration agreements. About a third of those require class action waivers.

Blackwell said she could not bring a class action on behalf of the cheerleaders in the NFL, but is up to the challenge of filing individual complaints.

“For me, it's beyond equal pay and sexual harassment. The rules are not equal and that puts women at risk in a way that men are not,” Blackwell said. “It's the office politics that keep women at a disadvantage. It's not just about cheerleading, but every career.”

 

Read more:

Prior Salary Can't Justify Gender Wage Gap, En Banc Ninth Circuit Says

Trump's EEOC General Counsel Pick Wants New Focus on Individual Cases, Not Systemic

NFL Union Boss Confronts 'Myth of the Football Exception' in Labor Law

Cyclist, Fired After Flipping Off Trump's Motorcade, Sues Her Company

Transgender Professor, Denied Reinstatement After Jury Win, Plans to Appeal