Mike Pereira has leveled a serious allegation of workplace misconduct against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Pereira was formerly the NFL's head of officiating and now works for Fox.

Pereira writes in his forthcoming book that Goodell shoved him during a heated argument about the infamous 2001 “Bottlegate” game, when referee Terry McAulay stopped the game with 43 seconds left while Cleveland fans threw bottles on the field.

“Goodell persisted, but I refused to give in. What happened next was anything but good. The conversation escalated, and when he was down in front of my office, with others present, he was so frustrated and, I’m sure, getting so much heat from Cleveland that he gave me a hard shove into my door to try and continue the argument about McAulay in my office. Quite frankly, it startled me, and I think it startled him a little because the discussion ended shortly after that,” Pereira writes, in an excerpt published by Deadspin.

Goodell was promoted to commissioner five years later.