A former Kansas City Chiefs employee is suing the team for racial discrimination.
Ramzee Robinson, a nine-year employee who most recently served as the team’s director of player engagement, filed an 11-page complaint in the Western District of Missouri Wednesday. The filing claims the Chiefs paid their Black employees less than their white counterparts, fired Robinson, a Black man, in February for an incident caught on camera without showing him the tape, and stopped another team from interviewing him even though he was already fired.
The complaint says Robinson’s first job with the team as a coordinator in 2016 paid $35,000, and his most recent job paid $125,000. The suit says Robinson was underpaid at his position compared to other NFL teams, but the Chiefs, led by team president Mark Donovan, would not grant him a “compensation review” or raise, saying they had already given him raises.
The filing also claims the Chiefs pay “African-American business employees” less than their white counterparts. According to the lawsuit, a Black woman resigned from her job that paid $50,000 a year after the team’s “refusal to increase her salary or consider a promotion,” and her role was filled by a white woman, Melissa Weinsz, for $80,000 a year. Weinsz was one of Robinson’s direct reports.
When reached for comment, Chiefs spokesperson Brad Gee directed Front Office Sports to a comment he gave Pro Football Talk: “We can’t comment because it’s an active legal matter,” Gee said over text. “But to be clear, the Chiefs do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We look forward to the facts of this case coming to light.”
The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount of damages, but the docket includes a demand for $5 million. Robinson’s legal team declined to answer questions, including about the $5 million figure. “My client dedicated years of professional service to the Chiefs organization and supported players through critical personal and professional challenges,” attorney Katrina Y. Robertson said in a press release. “This lawsuit seeks to hold the organization accountable for the systemic inequities and retaliation he faced for simply demanding fairness.”
The suit details Robinson’s work helping players tackle logistics and says the team “pressured” him to renew his contract during the season. But on Feb. 15, six days after the Chiefs lost in the Super Bowl, the complaint says Robinson was fired for “conduct detrimental to the league.” Robinson’s boss said he “attacked” Weinsz in an incident captured on security cameras but wouldn’t show him the video, the filing claims, and also “suggested that [Robinson] was somehow dangerous and inappropriate around white female co-workers.”
The complaint says Weinsz was promoted to Robinson’s position “within days” of his firing.
The lawsuit also says that after Robinson renewed his contract with the Chiefs but before he was fired, the Texans asked to interview him, but Kansas City didn’t allow it, saying it would violate his contract. The suit claims this was “improper, and neither justified nor excused.”
The suit claims the Chiefs’ “discriminatory actions against [Robinson] were based on his race.” He is suing for racial discrimination, retaliation, and tortious interference with business expectancy (for preventing the Texans interview), and is seeking unspecified damages.
After playing college football at Alabama, Robinson was taken by the Lions as Mr. Irrelevant in the 2007 draft. He saw minimal snaps in the NFL, recording 36 tackles in 26 games across four seasons. Travis Kelce shouted out Robinson and sung his praises on an episode of his “New Heights” podcast in 2023.
