A former Detroit Pistons employee has launched a legal battle against the team and its former assistant general manager, alleging a harrowing narrative of sexual harassment and assault. DeJanai Raska claims she was subjected to such abuses during her tenure with the organization, which she details in a civil rights lawsuit filed in Detroit's U.S. District Court.
Working from September 2021 to June 2023, Raska served as the executive assistant to Rob Murphy, at the time the assistant GM of the Pistons and the president of the Motor City Cruise, a G League affiliate. She alleges in her lawsuit, filed by the Royal Oak-based firm Pitt, McGehee, Palmer, Bonanni & Rivers, that Murphy engaged in "unrelenting harassment" including unwanted physical contact and sexual comments. "Ms. Raska endured unrelenting harassment by Murphy," the lawsuit states, with Murphy gesturing toward his erect genitalia, declaring that "she did this to him," ClutchPoints reported.
The allegations escalate to claims that Murphy "brutally assaulted" her and used his position to degrade and demean her. After refusing his advances, Raska says she was warned against reporting the incident because of Murphy's tight relationship with the director of human resources and faced retaliation which saw her executive assistant duties diminished and reassigned to others, as per the litigation. A bizarre task, picking up Murphy's son from school and caring for him became part of her responsibilities, WXYZ detailed.
The Pistons previously placed Murphy on administrative leave in October 2022, before firing him the following May. This action came after receiving a notice from Raska's attorneys announcing their intentions to initiate legal action. The complaint goes further, accusing the Pistons organization of enabling the alleged hostile environment by not acting against Murphy sooner. "The Pistons [were] enabling sexual harassment," the lawsuit accuses, which they retained Murphy until it was evident they faced legal repercussions, The Detroit News described.
Raska is now seeking punitive damages for her "past and present emotional suffering" as a result of the alleged harassment and assault. Both the Detroit Pistons and Murphy's counsel have not provided any immediate response to the allegations. In an earlier dismissal of Raska's claims, Murphy's lawyer had said that the former executive passed a polygraph test and fully cooperated with the Pistons' investigation, which did not find evidence to support Raska's accusations, according to The Detroit News.
