Blackhawks fined $2 million by NHL

3 years ago  /  NHL.com  /  Read Time: 4 minutes 40 seconds

• NEW YORK - The National Hockey League announced today that the Chicago Blackhawks have been fined $2 Million for the organization's inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response in the handling of matters related to former video coach Brad Aldrich's employment with the Club and ultimate departure in 2010.
• The Report is primarily focused on the Club's response (or lack of response) to an incident brought to senior management's attention in the Spring of 2010, when the Blackhawks were competing in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which involved then-current video coach Brad Aldrich.
• (Jim Gary, at the time a mental skills coach for the Blackhawks, was also present for the beginning of the meeting, but departed upon making his report.) According to the Report, after discussion of the alleged incident and how the Club should be dealing with it -- including the potential options of initiating an investigation, notifying appropriate members of the Human Resources Department, ensuring the immediate separation of Aldrich from the Club's Players, among other things -- ultimately the determination was made and direction given that Hockey Operations personnel should devote their exclusive attention to on-ice matters heading into the Stanley Cup Final, and that other appropriate Club personnel within the organization would take responsibility for "handling" the Aldrich situation in a prompt and appropriate manner -- which, as subsequent events make clear, did not happen.
• Specifically, the Report concluded, "after being informed of Aldrich's alleged sexual harassment and misconduct with a player, no action was taken for three weeks…While there was a lack of recollection as to whether anyone else present in the meeting besides [the Club's President] needed to or would take any additional steps, nothing was done by the other senior leaders to address the situation." The failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter not only violated the Blackhawks' own sexual harassment policy in effect at the time, the decision to take no action from May 23 to June 14, [2010] had real consequences, including allegations involving an additional unwanted sexual advance by Aldrich to a Blackhawks' intern before he was ultimately separated from the Club.
• "Such steps have included, but were not limited to: (i) retaining independent counsel to conduct a thorough investigation into the facts surrounding the 2010 allegations and the sufficiency of the Club's response thereto; (ii) reviewing the Club's internal policies, procedures and practices, including its internal operating structure and management personnel, to ensure a best-in-class approach going forward; and (iii) implementing various changes and upgrades to its internal procedures and personnel, including by adding enhanced subject matter expertise, creating more stringent reporting obligations, developing new and modernized employee handbooks, and implementing more comprehensive training and education programs.

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