Technically speaking, this story is about the NFL, not about schools. But it touches our schools in an important way—bullying—even though the target and the bully are adults, not kids.
The facts are as follows (just Google it): Richie Incognito, an offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins, with a reputation for a little too much extracurricular activity on the line, sent several offensive text messages and voice mails to Jonathan Martin, his teammate, including the use of the N-word. Saying he had had enough of the bullying from his teammate, Mr Martin resigned and is now undergoing counseling with his family in California. The Miami Dolphins suspended Mr Incognito without pay, pending the results of an investigation, for which the NFL has retained the services of prominent trial lawyer Ted Wells.
The allegations are many, and deciding which ones are true is something I will not do on these pages. Some hazing reportedly happens frequently in the NFL. Hazing is disallowed in many high schools because the young minds of adolescents often can’t tell the difference between hazing and bullying, but in the NFL, it is often seen as a ritual, bringing new members into the fold, giving them a sense of belonging and membership on a team and in the NFL. In terms of hazing, the Dolphins have a reputation of being particularly harsh on new players. (The 2012 season was Mr Martin’s first in the NFL.) They would reportedly take joy rides in rookies’ cars, shave their heads, and wrap tape around their locks, preventing them from using their lockers during training camp.
Hazing is something that just sort of happens, and in many ways, it’s considered passing on a tradition. If the veterans on the team, who have been around a while, had to go through it, the general feeling is that other team members should have to go through a similar experience to prove their commitment to the team. A few key differences between Mr Martin’s case and this description of hazing surface right away, but that’s the general idea about hazing. Nobody would be suspended from the NFL or in trouble with the law over hazing, but hazing is a group dynamic, not a personal assault. It encourages team members to laugh at themselves, as others laugh with them. It might be a little embarrassing, but there’s no lasting damage. Bullying, on the other hand, tears people down, and that’s what happened here. Plus, it’s typical that hazing would stop after the rookie season, and here, it didn’t.
Because the assault here continued, which is far from the expected or typical locker-room behavior, and was directed personally at Mr Martin, he has a case against the bully and against the management that allowed it to continue, especially if they were made aware of its occurrence. This part is consistent with laws that apply to schools in that administrators who show a “willful indifference” to reports of bullying against a child can be held liable for any side effects of that bullying.
But what is surprising about Mr Incognito’s voice mails and text messages is that there’s a claim that the management of the team, going all the way up to the general manager’s office, instructed him to work on Mr Martin and toughen him up for play. As a team leader, Mr Incognito was reported to have offered encouragement to offensive linemen, including Mr Martin, on a regular basis. In spite of his evident leadership behavior, a few of his comments have become the focus of this investigation. Did he go too far when the management of the team told him to rescue Mr Martin from failing?
The legal problem is that team management has several other courses of action available, including any remedies written into the struggling player’s contract for low performance. When management encourages actual threats and bullying or any other type of intimidation in order to accomplish their goal of improving a player, what this effectively does is to create a hostile work environment for every player on the team, especially for Mr Martin, who gets the brunt of the bullying, and for Mr Incognito, who is charged with carrying out the assault. Was Mr Incognito being a leader or was he creating a hostile work environment? This question has been debated, but it will eventually be resolved in a court or in settlement papers. Both players are now out of a job, at least temporarily.
From Mr Incognito’s perspective, he also has a case if management advised him to continue the “hazing” of Mr Martin beyond the normal NFL hazing. It would also be a useful defense to fight any charges of bullying in the workplace if other NFL players say his behavior was typical of what happens with other struggling players in the NFL, even if they’re past their rookie season. This would lend support to the idea that he didn’t overstep his bounds as a team leader.
This is why we’ve filed this story in our “Name That Verdict” category. By suspending Mr Incognito, the Miami Dolphins seem to be saying they had no knowledge of his continued hazing of Mr Martin. In other words, they’re distancing themselves and their management from these events. I’m sure this action was taken under the advice of some very good lawyers, but if the facts are proven that they did encourage Mr Incognito to bully Mr Martin, both players may have a case against the team and the NFL for stopping a high-earning career at a very early stage.
By resigning, Mr Martin has taken a strong stand against bullying and against the culture that seems to pervade the NFL’s locker rooms. I hope he is well compensated for teaching us this important lesson: even guys who are physically tough can be hurt by bullying. Hazing tends to bring them into the fold, while bullying tends to cast them out. If you can’t understand the difference, a status that seems to apply to members of the Miami Dolphins, you need to just avoid the behaviors associated with hazing and bullying altogether.
Going too far is not acceptable, and an apology is warranted (after all the facts come out in court, of course). Two men have lost their jobs not because they were bad at their jobs but because of these extracurricular activities. If the team or league encouraged these behaviors, the two men are owed an apology. It is unknown at this point whether they will be able to pick up their careers.
