Workplace Madness: Important HR Lessons from NCAA Basketball
By Michael S. Cohen, Esq.
The 2013 NCAA basketball tournament is over, and in many ways it was a classic, with great games, great upsets and great storylines. March Madness, indeed. However, this year much of the madness occurred off the court.
It started with the videotape of the unprofessional ranting of now-former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice, who called his players every offensive name in the book, berated them, question their very being and flung basketballs at their heads. Rice’s trail of carnage includes former Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and former University general Counsel John Wolf.
It continued with the “resignation” of Pac-12 Director of Officials Ed Rush, who suggested to his direct reports — the referees — that they punish one of the coaches in the league that Rush doesn’t like.
And it included controversy over whether Baylor University women’s superstar Britney Griner is worthy of a tryout in the all-male NBA.
Each of these headline-dominating stories had troubling aspects, and each offers lessons for HR professionals:
No One is Above the Rules
Unlike the professional sports, where superstars seem to have a different set of rules, the rules in the NCAA are the same for everyone in the workplace. Or at least they should be. Rice and Rush were in positions of authority and their behavior suggests that they thought the rules did not apply to them — that they were in some way above the rules. However, their careers came crashing down when their unprofessionalism was revealed.
In the workplace, the reality is quite different than what Rice and Rush apparently believed. Managers’ conduct, in most cases, can bind an organization. Given their positions of authority, statements they make, the organization has made; actions they take, the organization has made; and a manager’s failure to take action in the face of a legal obligation to do so is the organization’s very failure. While the first of these two axioms certainly applied to Rice and to Rush, it is the last that can doom the future of those who turn a blind eye to the inappropriate conduct. To managers who go easy on employees who behave badly, consider the plight of Rutgers Athletic Director Pernetti and General Counsel Wolf — both of whom were forced out when it was determined that they did not act sternly enough with Rice in light of the horrific conduct in which he engaged.
Everything Is “On The Record.”
Rice’s wildly egregious conduct was caught on video in the workplace. Rush, on the other hand, thought he was safe because the statements attributed to him allegedly were made behind closed doors in a meeting with his “friends.”
Stated simply, “off the record” is fiction. For purposes of the workplace, managers are always on the record. Whether a manager’s inappropriate behavior takes place in the workplace, at an off-site business-related function or gathering or via text messaging or social media posts from the comforts of his or her home, the conduct “counts” and it can result in very serious liability for the organization.
In addition, a manager’s knowledge of another employee’s inappropriate behavior requires that manager to take action, regardless of how or where the manager learns of the information requiring the action. Irrespective of from where their knowledge derives, whether through verbal statements, observation of conduct or even through social media, a manager’s knowledge of inappropriate conduct requires that manager handle the problem.
All managers and employees alike need to be careful of the way they conduct themselves, both inside and outside of work. In this day and age, someone’s always watching. And Human Resources professionals need to understand how to navigate it all, which can combine the sometimes sticky issues of morality, privacy and policy.
The Myth of the Non-Defense
When confronted by his superiors, Rush tried to explain away his conduct by claiming that he was not serious in what he said and that he made the comments in jest. Nice try, Ed.
Too many managers believe that they can use “I was just joking” as a defense to otherwise inappropriate or threatening behavior. The fact of the matter remains, however, that such a non-defense is just that — a non-defense. While certainly much of the time such an excuse is a lie concocted after the fact, even if the statement was truly a joke, it does not and cannot excuse the behavior. Imagine if it did. We would be left to try to determine what was happening inside someone’s head at the time of the conduct. The same impossibility applies to one of the other more popular non-defense claims, “I didn’t mean any harm by the statement.” Just as HR professionals cannot know whether someone was actually kidding when a statement was made, similarly, that HR professional cannot possibly appreciate an actor’s intent at the time of his or her action.
The Glass Ceiling is Still There, but It’s Cracking.
To a certain extent, comparing male and female athletes and male and female executives is a case of apples and oranges. However, let’s focus on the Dallas Mavericks’ iconoclastic owner Mark Cuban, who started the talk of Griner being a professional prospect by saying that he’d consider drafting her for his team. One certainly can be cynical about Cuban’s motivations, but the notion that we should throw gender out the window when considering who to hire is a smart one. Forward-thinking, successful businesses aren’t constrained by anachronistic business-think when it comes to acquiring the best talent. And that’s a message that should resonate with all HR managers.
Michael S. Cohen, Esquire, is a Partner in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration practice group of Duane Morris’ Philadelphia Office. Michael concentrates his practice in the areas of employment law training and counseling and can be reached at 215-979-1882 or by email at mcohen@duanemorris.com.
