One of only three female NFL officials ever alleges the league set her up to fail
A former NFL official alleges the league's celebrated DEI commitments collapsed the moment she actually needed them.
Robin DeLorenzo, one of only three women in history to officiate on an NFL field, filed suit on March 27 in the Southern District of New York (DeLorenzo v. National Football League et al., Case No. 1:26-cv-02546), naming the league, its former Senior Vice President of Officiating Walter Anderson, and her assigned trainer Byron Boston as defendants.
DeLorenzo worked as an NFL official from April 2022 through February 2025. What she encountered across those three seasons, according to the filing, reads less like a professional development track and more like a cautionary tale in how organizations can fail the very people their diversity programs are meant to protect.
The allegations begin early. At her first mini-camp in Houston, Anderson allegedly directed DeLorenzo to wear her hair in a ponytail so she would appear more visibly female on the field. When she pushed back and later raised the issue through an NFL-retained communication specialist, Anderson allegedly kept pressing.
She was placed in her rookie season on the crew of John Hussey, who, according to the filing, had recently been accused of mistreating another female employee. DeLorenzo alleges Hussey subjected her to repeated verbal abuse and aggressive hand gestures, and by season's end, refused to speak to her...
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