NEW YORK – The New York Mets laid off two high-ranking employees and will overhaul its human resources and legal departments on the recommendation of independent investigators hired to review the organization following allegations of sexual misconduct against former manager Mickey Callaway.
Callaway, fired in October 2019 for his performance on the field, was banned in May by Major League Baseball until at least 2022 following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward several women working in sports media, including his time with the Mets.
New York’s first-year owner Steve Cohen hired the WilmerHale law firm in March to review the organization and detailed the changes he will make in an email to employees on Monday, saying he wanted to “ensure that our community and our culture are always safe, respectful, and inclusive. ” The email was obtained by The Associated Press.
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Cohen, unrelated to the owner, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Diversity, Holly Lindvall, will be fired as Steve Cohen rebuilds the legal and human resources departments. David Cohen has been with the Mets since 1995 and Lindvall since 2010. Both will remain with the team during “a transitional period,” Cohen wrote.
The team is updating its legal and human resources protocols to prioritize responding to complaints in a timely manner and expanding the scope of anti-harassment and discrimination policies. The club will also host regular town halls and question and answer sessions with employees to “increase communication and transparency.”
Other changes include bottom-up evaluations for employees from his supervisors and department leaders, as well as Cohen’s commitment to “enhance our efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization, including at the executive leadership level.”
In a Feb. 1 report, The Athletic said 2018-19 Mets manager Callaway “aggressively persecuted” several women who work in sports media and sent inappropriate photos to three of them. Callaway sent unsolicited and sometimes unanswered messages to women via email, text messages or social media and asked one to send nude photos in return, according to the report.
Additionally, Jared Porter was fired by New York less than 40 days after being hired as general manager this winter for sending sexually explicit and unsolicited text messages and images to a reporter in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs in their main office. .
Minor league hitting coach Ryan Ellis was also fired this winter after three Mets employees complained to human resources that Ellis had directed lewd comments to them in person and via text in 2018.
.