The Saints fired Bailey Davis earlier this year after she posted an Instagram photo of herself in a lacy outfit. Davis filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the Saints impose stricter rules on cheerleaders and unfair restrictions pertaining to social media, appearances and acts.
The rules mandate that the cheerleaders make their social media platforms private and prohibit them from following any Saints players on social media. But players are not prohibited from interactions with the cheerleaders.
"If the cheerleaders can't contact the players, then the players shouldn't be able to contact the cheerleaders," Sara Blackwell, Davis' lawyer, tells The New York Times. "The antiquated stereotype of women needing to hide for their own protection is not permitted in America and certainly not in the workplace."
Gregory Rouchell, legal counsel for the Saints, tells People that the organization "denies that Ms. Davis was discriminated against because she is female."
"The Saints will defend these allegations in due course, and the organization is confident that its policies and workplace rules will withstand legal scrutiny," he notes.