Rose Law Group Reporter Gripe of the Week
By Phil Riske, managing editor | Rose Law Group Reporter
Amidst all the media frenzy about two Miami Dolphins football players no longer on the team as a result of alleged bullying are comments insisting the NFL locker room is a “culture” familiar only to those who snap towels and talk dirty in it.
While testosterone-driven behavior certainly exists outside athletics, let’s for the sake of argument assume NFL locker rooms — even the practice and game fields — are unique from other places of employment. Is the so-called locker room culture in someway exempt from employment laws that govern all other employers and employees?
We took that question to David Weissman, Rose Law Group employment law attorney.
“NFL players perform services on behalf of their teams, and team management exerts of high level of direction and control over the players’ work related activities, including how players are to perform their duties,” he said.
“As employers, NFL teams are therefore subject to any applicable state and federal employment laws, and all conduct in the locker room, on the playing field and elsewhere must be governed accordingly or face potential legal action for violating those requirements.”
Moreover, Weissman says there are no state nor federal laws against bullying, although such legislation may be on the horizon in a couple of states.
“In other words, an employer has no legal responsibility to prevent an employee from being a jerk to his or her co-workers, even if that behavior has the impact of creating a difficult work environment for the impacted employees. That said, there are laws that prohibit harassment based on membership in a protected class (e.g., gender, race, national origin, age, religion etc.), which appears to be a possibility in the Dolphins situation, Weissman said.
He added comments made at a construction site may very well be treated differently from those made in a law office. Similarly, comments made in the context of an NFL locker room might be considered acceptable as compared to other work environments.
“As applied to the Dolphins situation, one really has to look at the specific nature of the alleged comments and behavior, and how a reasonable person would react under the circumstances. That is not to say that the NFL locker room culture is in any way exempt from employment laws, but the nature of that particular workplace must still be taken into account when applying those laws,” Weissman concluded
Violence in sports
On a different but related subject, let’s take yet another look at of violence in sports. Hey, Sen. McCain, outlaw all this ultimate fighting sport now before someone dies in the ring. We don’t tolerate people bashing each other’s heads on the street, so why as a sport?
And it’s time to put the pedal to the metal over brain damage in football. This week it was disclosed three former NFL players have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE., including Dallas Cowboys superstar running back Tony Dorsett. This is the first time CTE has been diagnosed in living former players.
In this saddening video, he tells of the disturbing effects of getting his head bashed in too many times:
A hard hit in football, a boxing knockout, or a big wreck of racecars are what fans want. It’s the animal, the testosterone in us.
This column is not naïve enough to think football will someday be banned, but it does call for a different culture in sports as a whole and for science and professional sports leagues to make their sports safer.
Related: The football world is losing its mind(s)
State panel rejected injury claim by NFL’s Dorsett
Outpouring of love, support’ for family of fallen player
