A gay woman who worked as a corporate sales manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers has sued the team, claiming she did not receive pay equal to her male peers and was discriminated against because of her gender and sexual orientation.

Attorneys for the former employee, Allegheny County resident Chelsea Zahn, filed the six-count lawsuit in federal court Tuesday.

The lawsuit claims the Steelers created “a hostile work environment” and that team owner Arthur J. Rooney II specifically denied Zahn more than $50,000 in commissions in 2024.

Zahn is seeking compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and additional relief.

“We won’t be commenting,” Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten told TribLive Thursday in an email.

“This is a disappointment to all Steelers fans, that the team we all follow so closely is involved in discriminating against women and against people who are not heterosexual,” said attorney Joel Sansone, whose firm filed the lawsuit.

“We intend to follow this all the way through,” Sansone added. “Personally, this is hard for me. I bleed black and gold. But my firm wants to make sure the team we all love follows the rules in this country.”

The Steelers hired Zahn in July 2013 as a part-time marketing intern and sponsorship assistant, according to the lawsuit.

She was hired full-time a year later.

While Zahn said she was promoted in 2017 and 2022, she also was denied promotion twice, the lawsuit said. An individual, who was not named, said Zahn was “too young” for the positions she sought, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit does not state Zahn’s age.

Before Zahn resigned in September 2024, she experienced “multiple incidents of discrimination and a hostile work environment based on her sex,” the lawsuit said.

Zahn’s lawyers depicted her as a successful employee who secured more than $1.8 million “in new sponsorship business for the 2024 sales season, which was the highest amount of new sponsorship business secured by any corporate sales manager for the 2024 sales season.”

When she was promoted to the corporate sales manager position in 2022, Zahn received a lower salary and lower commission structure than her male and heterosexual colleagues, the lawsuit said.

In 2024, Zahn earned $100,625 in commission, a number she called the highest sponsorship-related figure earned by any corporate sales manager that year, the lawsuit said.

Rooney, however, “decided not to pay her the entire … amount owed,” Zahn’s attorneys allege.

“The reason provided was that Mr. Rooney was ‘upset that (she) left the company,’ ” the suit said.

Instead, Zahn received a check for $50,000, the lawsuit said. She did not cash it.

The lawsuit claimed the reason given by Rooney was “pretextual and unworthy of belief as heterosexual male employees of the defendant were paid their full bonuses/commissions owed to them after they had left their employment with defendant.”

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gave Zahn the right to sue on Nov. 18, 2025.

Her lawsuit alleges gender discrimination, retaliation and violations of equal pay and human relations laws.