“Hey, wassup, you half nigger piece of shit. I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. [I want to] shit in your fucking mouth. [I’m going to] slap your fucking mouth. [I’m going to] slap your real mother across the face [laughter]. Fuck you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”
This isn’t solely about using a racial pejorative, it’s about a pattern of conduct that went on in the work place for a very long time and one’s employer did nothing to solve the problem. What would you do if a co-worker repeatedly said or intimated such things to you; you informed your boss and he/she did nothing about it? Most companies have rules/regulations against harassment of any kind, sexual or physical and a NFL football team is or should be like any other company or corporation. Jonathan Martin certainly should consider a lawsuit against the Miami Dolphins for allowing a hostile work environment to exist which prevented him, Martin, from doing his job.
Yes, I know football is a manly man sport where people with muscle and speed compete with one another and should therefore be able to protect, defend themselves from unwanted intimidation but who goes to work expecting to have to fight with a co-worker after they have informed their boss of flagrant violations of social conduct or worse company policy? I know there will be too many who will posit that Martin should have beat the crap out of this really social neanderthal Richie Incognito but that’s not we settle disputes in the work place. Usually we settle them administratively although there is a precedent for going “postal” and using firearms to settle scores. Martin should expect his employer to reign in an abusive co-worker, not have to duke it out or have a duel to see who is the better man. Let’s not forget, Martin comes from a university that probably instills in its graduates notions of civility in the work environment.
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