On Friday, Criminal Attorney Ted Wells will begin the investigation into workplace conduct amongst the Dolphins, and will start out by interviewing Jonathan Martin, the man Richie Incognito harshly bullied. Money and jobs could all be lost by the time the investigation is over, and even Steven Ross, the owner, could have some legal trouble on his hands. Therefore, the NFL could have to get involved to make changes to ensure safe workplace conduct.
“The NFL would be making a big mistake if they went from zero awareness to zero tolerance,” said Dr. Gary Namie, a social psychologist and director of the Workplace Bullying Institute. “You’ve got to bring the cultures along. They’ve built themselves up over time. You have to draw a line in the sand with a very high threshold at the abuse level — when the targeted person stops laughing with and becomes the person laughed at and has the stress from the humiliation.”
Silvana Raso, a managing partner at the firm Schepisi & McLaughlin, which takes on cases of bullying in schools and workplaces, added: “The question becomes, was the culture such that this was expected and normal and everybody knew that this was going on, even if they didn’t know the specifics of who was engaging in it? If this was an atmosphere that was tolerated in the past, then they’d still be liable, even if it wasn’t reported.”
