One of the NFL's first female officials sues the league for gender discrimination after being fired

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A pioneer football official is suing the National Football League for gender discrimination during her time in her role.

Robin DeLorenzo became one of the league's first female officials in 2022 but was let go in 2025. DeLorenzo cited gender-based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility among the indignities she suffered from during her three seasons as a league official.

The lawsuit alleges that she was sent man-sized clothing to wear and told to let her ponytail show out the hole in the back of her hat, apparently to make clear a woman was on the field. It said repeated references to her hair eventually made her want to cut it off.

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NFL line judge Robin DeLorenzo gestures during the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

The lawsuit also claims that an NFL officials' crew chief told former Pittsburgh Steelers' Coach Mike Tomlin one day during training camp that she should be made to sing in front of everyone, like rookie football players, because she was a new official. As a result, she said, she "put on an utterly humiliating singing performance" in front of the Steelers' players, all the men on her officiating crew and her boss, who she said had promised not to record her but did so anyway, according to the lawsuit.

In the following weeks, she was repeatedly shamed, harassed and subjected to profanity-laced trash talk by her crew chief, a man who had recently been accused of mistreating another female employee, the lawsuit said. By the end of the season, the crew chief would not even speak to her, it added.