A pair of former Arizona Cardinals employees have filed a lawsuit against the team and owner Michael Bidwill, alleging racial discrimination and other workplace mistreatment. The suit adds to a growing list of legal challenges that have dogged the organization in recent years, keeping the franchise in the headlines for reasons that have nothing to do with football.
The plaintiffs are Kendra Hogue, who served as assistant to Cardinals COO Jeremy Walls, and Don Shumpert, a former assistant coach who left the team in 2022. Arizona Republic Cardinals beat reporter Theo Mackie spoke with KJZZ about the details of the case.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
Hogue’s claims are broad. According to Mackie, the lawsuit alleges that as a Black woman, she was subjected to disparate treatment, and that conditions at work were severe enough to force her out. The filing states that
“the working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person in Hogue’s position would have been compelled to resign.”
The suit does not offer extensive specifics about individual incidents.
Shumpert’s allegations are more detailed. He joined the Cardinals as a coaching fellow in 2019 and, by 2022, says he was promoted to running backs coach while still being required to fulfill the duties of his previous role — effectively working two jobs. When he asked team leadership for a pay raise to reflect his expanded workload, he says the general manager and head coach at the time declined to address it. About a week later, he was fired. Shumpert alleges his termination was retaliation for making that request.
He also points to what he describes as unequal treatment compared to white colleagues. According to Mackie, Shumpert notes that two white coaches on the staff received title increases — a significant currency in the NFL, where job titles influence visibility to other organizations — without any accompanying change in responsibilities. Shumpert, by contrast, was never formally given the running backs coach title despite doing that job.
One detail from the lawsuit that drew particular attention involves owner Michael Bidwill directly. Mackie described the incident: Bidwill allegedly scowled at Shumpert after seeing him take two water bottles from a team refrigerator and asked,
“if he was going grocery shopping.”
The remark, attributed to Bidwill in the filing, resonated with observers familiar with longstanding criticism of the owner’s approach to spending — the Cardinals were notably the last NFL team to stop charging players for meals during the offseason and regular season.
The Cardinals’ Response
The team issued a statement denying the allegations, saying the claims would be disproven. Because it is a legal matter, the organization said it would not comment further. The case has been directed to an NFL arbitration process rather than a civil court proceeding.
A Pattern of Legal Challenges
This is not the first time Bidwill and the Cardinals have faced accusations of workplace mistreatment. In 2023 and 2024, former executive Terry McDonough brought claims against the organization and prevailed. More recently, former assistant Brittney Neuheisel filed suit alleging age and gender discrimination. The current lawsuit, while less specific than some of those earlier cases, extends what has become a recurring pattern of legal scrutiny directed at the franchise’s leadership.
Mackie noted that while these lawsuits represent serious concerns, they are unlikely to result in forced ownership change.
“There’s really an extremely high bar for ownership to be forced to sell in the NFL. It’s only happened a couple times in recent memory,”
he said. The Bidwill family has owned the Cardinals for nearly 100 years, and a reputation for organizational frugality has followed the franchise since its time in St. Louis.
As Mackie put it, each new lawsuit
“continues the conversation in a negative way around this organization”
— and that conversation, uncomfortable as it may be for the team’s ownership, shows no sign of fading. Those interested in broader sports and workplace equity coverage can follow ongoing reporting at KJZZ’s The Show, where Mark Brodie and colleagues have also reported on related Arizona sports stories, including the trade of Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Houston Texans.