It seems that a lot of posters here are oblivious to some of our labor laws.
From my management training (in California we have even stricter laws that allow the managers and employer to be sued over one of their own employees' actions... More on that below) the Whistleblower act (google whistleblower protection) allows all employees the ability to report violations of various issues including workplace safety without fear of retribution from their employer or coworkers (discrimination at the workplace, termination, demotion, loss of pay, etc).
When we ask why Martin didn't go management, we can all safely assume his mother, an employment and labor law attorney guided him down this path. Why? Maybe they thought management was in collusion with Richie or even simpler, by taking directly to authorities, they are granted protection via the whistleblower act.
The dolphins suspended incognito for what they calle "conduct detrimental to the organization". This is a clear act of separation. We'll see how the management and workplace practices come into play later I assume.... And it will go to court.
Workplace intimidation, harassment and or discrimination is most definitely punishable. Martin texting his teammates that it wasn't one person but the workplace (team) atmosphere is as clear as day forecasting future events in my opinion... He's going to sue the organization for creating / allowing a hostile, dangerous workplace.
And can Richie be sued? Most definitely as a co-conspirator for the workplace harassment. On another note, if he texted Martin the abusive message with a personal phone after hours, "I will kill you", Martin can probably also file an individual civil suit against Incognito as well.
Now, onto management and accountability. If it is deemed that Richie was acting on behalf of the organization (coaches telling him to do something) and he goes overboard, the Dolphins are also responsible. With Richie listed as a captain and team-leader, he'll also most likely be viewed as management in a court of law.
I jumped into this thread to talk about this post...but its pretty much spot on, not much i can add. I'll point out a few things that are more in the practical sense(and for the record, i am not a lawyer):
1) From my understanding the Whistleblower act is applicable in this case. Martin should fall under that. Regardless, the owners might still avoid him. That act has always been difficult to enforce because companies/agencies can easily claim they didnt hire a former whistleblower for other reasons.
The league has already been busted for collusion. They were stone cold caught colluding against the players during the lead up to the CBA negotiations. The reason why there wasnt a massive lawsuit about it is due to the owners making any CBA agreement contingent on the players waiving away the right to sue the league for things they "might" have done before the negotiations took place. Even then it almost went to court after the NFL punished the Cowboys and Redskins for taking advantage of that uncapped offseason by cleaning up their cap space(or read another way: not colluding with the other owners).
As well, its worth pointing out that Von Miller was in the cross hairs of the league for a bit. After he put his name on the lawsuit the players filed against the league in the pre-negotiations, there was legitimate talk he might fall in the draft in retaliation by the owners. It didnt matter that he was protected under the law. It ended up not happening, though my personal opinion on that is: he was just to bloody talented. Owners had no problem looking the other way about Peyton Manning's negotiating involvenment when he became a free agent. Its fair to question if Martin will get the same pass.
2) Like ive said in other threads, Martin collecting a legitimate paycheck from the league in court is difficult to believe. Undoubtedly he is following at least some of the advice of his parents. But no matter how intelligent and educated they are, i refuse to believe they think they can decisively win this case. They have to look at the legal history of the league and know what they are up against. In my opinion, everything they've been doing up until this point is trying to make the league see the worst case scenario. I expect they will back off if they get some reasonable assurance their son can continue his career for another franchise.
People forget why the players accepted the $765 million settlement concerning concussions. The main reason why was because the league was preparing to delay the courts for years to come...at which point some of the players were going to start dying off. If the league is
that resolute, then Martin's parents have to understand this would be a long, hard fight in which they likely couldnt prevail in any significant way. Another example would be the USFL v NFL case from way back when. The USFL won that thing...and received 3 dollars for their victory.
3) From my understanding, Martin can go after Incognito. In fact, a lot of people are wondering why the league is investigating instead of the authorities. Depending on what other evidence Martin has on Incognito, Martin could not only file a civil suit, he could file a criminal suit. If something happened recently and he had the reasonable doubt for his well being, Incognito could be very vulnerable.
4) And i agree with your final point: now that there is evidence of coaches instructing Incognito, this goes from negligence to being responsible. This is borderline very bad for the team. If more evidence is uncovered, the league will have to come down on us hard or else the union(and probably the authorities) will come down on
them hard.
