The NHL and Anaheim Ducks were named in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a former employee alleging 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 alleges 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 alleges that Nick Aguilera, formerly with the OCSE public relations team, subjected her to unwanted physical contact and jokes. She also alleges he told other PR staffers they were in a sexual relationship, and those parties made further derogatory remarks to her. Harris also claims the Ducks’ equipment managers were harassing 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 HR about the alleged harassment and was told “more likely than not” that some of the company’s policies had been breached in these interactions. 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 goes on to claim that OCSE conspired to have her terminated by the league. She alleges that once word got out that she’d begun working for the NHL’s front office, someone at her former employer told NHL Senior VP and Chief HR Officer Patrice Distler 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 goes on to claim that once OCSE learned she was working for the league, they conspired to have her terminated by revealing to NHL Senior VP and Chief HR Officer Patrice Distler that she 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 alleges that after the NHL was informed of this, she was purposely assigned an IT ticket to work on Distler’s email. Shortly thereafter, Harris claims Distler accused her of hacking her email and fired her immediately.
The suit claims the NHL never produced any documentation of the alleged hacking and claims Harris’ electronics were all given back to Distler directly.
Harris further alleges that the NHL and OCSE continued to “blacklist” her around the industry and have made it impossible for her to secure further employment in the sports world. She is seeking punitive damages.
ESPN has reached out for comment from the NHL and OCSE about Harris’ lawsuit.
