By Lisa M. Diaz-Ordaz, of Goldberg Segalla
On February 14th, attorney Ted Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP issued a 144-page report (commonly referred to as the Wells report) to the National Football League concerning the alleged harassment of Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin. On October 28, 2013, Martin abruptly walked off the team after a lunch room joke, which he says was the final straw after enduring nearly a year of harassment from his teammates. Martin checked himself into a hospital for mental health help.
Amidst bullying rumors, the NFL hired Wells to conduct an investigation and issue the report. During the investigation, the entire Dolphins’ team, coaching staff, and management was interviewed. The finished, very lengthy report acknowledged the vulgar locker room culture prevalent in professional sports today, and concluded this instance saw more than the usual locker room banter and horseplay. Indeed, the Wells report found, Martin was subjected to a pattern of harassment by teammates Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey, and John Jerry in the form of racial insults and remarks and sexually explicit insults about his mother and sister. (It is worth noting that Martin is of African-American and Caucasian descent, Incognito is Caucasian, and Pouncey and Jerry are African-American.)
The report showed that Martin socialized often off the field with Incognito, the primary aggressor. However, Wells concluded that Martin’s close relationship with Incognito was consistent with the behavior of a victim of abuse.
The Dolphins’ organization did have a harassment policy in place. However, not only was the coaching staff ignorant of what occurred in the locker room, but it permitted the players to run their own “kangaroo court.” They even had a fine book whereby they were able to impose fines upon each other for conduct such as wearing ugly shoes and “Judas fines” for being a traitor or a snitch. For example, if a coach criticized a player for making an error during a game and that player pointed out that his teammate was actually to blame, his fellow teammate could assess a “Judas fine” against him. In addition, the day Martin walked out on the Dolphins, Incognito charged himself a fine for “breaking [Martin],” but awarded lineman Nate Garner, also subject to frequent bullying, a bonus for “not cracking first.” Thus, the locker room culture of bullying and harassment was not just accepted — it was encouraged.
In November, Incognito was suspended as a result of the publication of voicemails and text messages to Martin in which he used racial slurs. In December, the Dolphins’ staff made the decision to suspend him with pay through the remainder of the season. Incognito will be a free agent next month. Martin remained on the team’s non-football injury list with full pay through the end of the 2013 season. His contract with the Dolphins does not expire until 2015, and he has expressed his desire to return to football.
Most of the players and staff interviewed during the course of the investigation had a “boys will be boys” mentality and expressed that the lewd conduct, name calling, pranks, and fines in the locker room were all in good fun. Indeed, Dolphins’ players interviewed by the media throughout the 2013 season overwhelmingly showed their support for Incognito rather than Martin.
Nevertheless, the Wells report cautions the NFL that a locker room is a workplace like any other, albeit a unique one. The findings encourage the creation of new workplace policies and guidelines that curb this type of atmosphere and ensure that all players and staff are treated with decency and respect. Only time will tell if the league is listening.
Update: In light of the Wells Report released last Friday, the Miami Dolphins announced Wednesday that they have fired their offensive line coach, Jim Turner, and head trainer, Kevin O’Neill. Dolphin’s owner, Stephen Ross stated that after reading the report, he conducted his own internal review and determined that termination was the appropriate action, because both Turner and O’Neill “exhibited poor judgment at times.”
Turner’s termination should come as no surprise as the report concluded that not only was Turner aware of the team’s harassment of Jonathan Martin and Andrew McDonald (Player A), instead of stopping it, he participated in it. Aware that there was a running joke on the team that McDonald was gay, Turner gave the entire offensive line inflatable female dolls for Christmas and gave McDonald a male doll. Although Turner denied remembering this when asked during the investigation, the investigators did not believe that Turner forgot the incident and did not credit his other denials.
Finally, the report points out that just days after Martin left the Dolphins, although fully aware that he was emotionally troubled and was seeking psychological help, Turner sent multiple text messages to Martin imploring him to “do the right thing” and release a public statement clearing Incognito’s name.
According to the report, O’Neill was aware that the Dolphin’s assistant trainer was subject to harassment but never intervened and instead, laughed along. O’Neill’s investigative interview was apparently cut short, because he expressed hostility toward the investigation.
Only time will tell if these firings are just the tip of the iceberg in the changes to come to the Dolphins and to the League.
